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Stagnant
pools, not a full-scale lake. Just dams in drying mud, not an expansive fishing
ground with boats gliding where fishers feared to cast their nets in futile. An
endangered wetland under a scorching sun.
Malawians
surrounding Lake Chiuta offer grim flashbacks of the drying of the water body
in the south-eastern border region.
“Life was
tough around this time in 2016,” says Chief Ngokwe, explaining: “We used to
walk on dry patches when crossing over to the neighbouring Mozambique.”
But to the
fishing community, it was neither a triumphant march of a chosen few—but a cause
for worry for thousands throughout the villages along Lake Chiuta, north of
Lake Chilwa.
A knee high
The two
lakes, only separated by a sprawling sandy ridge, are hit hard by chronic drought
which worsen hunger and poverty for millions of Malawians.
Hydrologists
estimate that only a quarter of Lake Chiuta remained with water as crops wilted.
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| Satelite map of Lake Chiuta |
Good rains
in the 2017 growing season restored optimism in the wetland prone to climate
shocks.
“The lake is
rising, but not adequately. We need some more,” says Linosi Chikwanje, from the
maize-growing Nafisi Village. But 2018 was
no end to their misery as hopes for an exodus from hunger to surplus was dashed
by another spate of drought.
Government
estimates that almost 1.9 million farming families will need emergency food
assistance this year.
At Big
Chiuta, the deepest point, Njerwa villagers point to a line of eucalyptus,
located almost 120 metres from the shoreline.
The rains started
late and vanished too fast to fill the lake, they say.
“The lake
used to fill all that stretch to the trees, but it has been receding for years.
Five months of good rains were not going to be enough,” explains Ngokwe.
Most parts
of the lake are just a knee-deep, even at Big Chiuta. The levels of
the lake less visited cause anxiety in the families on its beach. Their fingers
point one way—upstream.
A scheme
under fire
The falling water
levels have catalysed conflicts between the fishers and rice growers upstream.
Rice remains
the widely grown in the wetland, occupying about 541 500 acres. However, it has
come under fire following the construction of Kamwaza Rice Scheme along Lifunu
River.
Discontent
is growing downstream where the fishers accuse the architects of the scheme of
blocking the lake’s inlet.
But the rice
farmers say they only abstract a little water, leaving the rest flowing to the
lake.
“The scheme
may be to blame for the drying lake, but insufficient rains in recent times are
also to blame,” says Fisheries Integration of Society and Habitats (Fish)
Project official Elube Kachilola.
Statistics
from the USAID-funded Fish Project show Lake Chiuta waterline is just about
half its desired levels of 580 - 650mm.
But the
fishers in 16 villages, who fled to Njerwa when the lake run dry two years ago,
are having none of this arithmetic.
“Our area receives
insufficient rains, but the lake would not have dried up fast if the river had
been left to flow freely,” says Cecilia Jackson.
To Lake
Chirwa Fisheries chairperson Mathias Mainala, the making of Kamwaza Rice Scheme
was fraught with broken promises from the start.
“We saw this
coming,” he says. “We expressed our worries at the onset, but the brains behind
the scheme assured us that they would not disrupt the river. When we visited
the intake recently, we were surprised to discover that their dam was full
while the lake is drying.”
The fisher
folk want a win-win deal.
“When the
lake dries, we will be in trouble,” says Mainala.
Lifuni is
equally stressed by drought and siltation. From a single-lane bridge where rice
growers control water, we saw a frail rivulet trickling into a quarter-full dam—signaling
a no less crisis upstream. From the gaping reservoir, weaker rivulets flow past
a concrete slab to the rice scheme.
The fishing
community blame this for the water stress in the lake.
Nobody likes to starve. ....Authorities must do something about it before the fishers and farmers start fighting for water.”
In 2017, Fish Project governance and capacity specialist Dick Kachilonda called for dialogue between the farmers and fishers.
He argues: "The scheme is important for the food security in farming families, but there was need to eject the water back into the river for the benefit of villages on its banks and near the lake.
“Therefore, the fisheries and agriculture officials need to explore ways of ensuring both sides benefit”
The
misunderstanding rages as both crop yields and fish catches are declining due
to climate change and breakdowns in the ecosystem.
According to
Chief Ngokwe, the main problem is that the voices of the fishing communities “did
not count” in the designing and running of the rice scheme. “Nobody likes to
starve,” he says. “Government and its partners had good intentions when they
constructed the scheme, but the way they diverted the water has brought more
problems. Authorities must do something about it before the fishers and farmers
start fighting for water.”
At stake is
the right to water and global goals to end poverty by 2030. Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs) oblige governments and development partners to ensure everyone
has enough water and food.
As rice
flourishes upstream, fishers feel they are being left behind.
