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Malawians rethink maize planting as climate dries
Posted by AlertNet: Karen Sanje on April 9th, 2013
AlertNet: Less than three years after Ezelina Nyirongo reluctantly abandoned cultivation of her favourite local maize varieties, the 48-year-old from Rumphi in northern Malawi is thinking of going back to them.
Back in 2010, Nyirongo was advised by agricultural extension officers working in her area, near the city of Mzuzu, to switch from late-maturing local maize to new hybrid varieties.
"The hybrid maize varieties they recommended we start growing have been maturing a little earlier than the local...
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Malawi traditional leaders step up to help fight forest fires
Posted by AlertNet: Karen Sanje on January 3rd, 2012
AlertNet: Malawi's traditional leaders have been enlisted to help prevent forest fires that are threatening livelihoods, producing climate-changing emissions and damaging the environment in this southeast African nation.
"As community leaders we should take a leading role in preventing and putting out fires,' said Paramount Chief M'mbelwa of Mzimba during a meeting on fire prevention in the government-owned Viphya plantation.
Those efforts may include things like improving labour relations to curb arson...
Malawi farmers lay down their hoes to combat climate change
Posted by AlertNet: Karen Sanje on October 5th, 2011
AlertNet: Confronted by worsening dry spells that have damaged his crops, farmer Anthony Kapesa has had an unlikely reaction: he's stopped tilling his land.
Kapesa, from Zombwe village in northern Malawi, has long hoed his fields each planting season, making ridges of earth in which to plant his maize seeds.
But as Kapesa has learned, soil loosened by tilling is more easily dried out by the sun. In the past, whenever there was a dry spell, Kapesa's crops wilted, drastically decreasing his yield.
Lack...