Malawians brave climate shocks to make banana wine
KARONGA, MALAWI – Regina Mukandawire has been growing bananas on her small farm in the Karonga district in northern Malawi for more than 16 years.
But heatwaves, floods and disease outbreaks that have hit the country since 2010 have gradually reduced her yields from half a tonne to only a few buckets per harvest.
“If it’s extremely hot, ripe bananas will quickly rot, meaning you won’t be able to sell them,” said the 38-year-old mother of six. “Again, when floods happen, the trees are affected, and heavy storms can actually destroy a whole farm.”
Malawi is suffering some of the worst impacts of climate change despite being one of the world’s lowest emitters of greenhouse gases. The dry spell caused by the El Nino weather phenomenon during the 2016-2017 season also left a third of the country’s 18 million people in dire need of food assistance.
Two years later, when Cyclone Idai hit, small businesses incurred US$20 million in losses, and two million people were pushed into extreme poverty, says Mathews Malata, co-chairperson for the Movement for Environmental Action, a Lilonge-based advocacy group. That impact has continued today, he said.
“Malawi is losing up to 33 tonnes of soil per hectare due to environmental damage as well as floods and other weather conditions,” he said.
One crop that has been seriously affected by extreme weather is banana, Malawi’s fourth biggest staple crop after maize, rice, and cassava. With temperatures sometimes reaching 43 degrees Celsius, bananas are often in a messy state by the time of harvest.
Frustrated by repeated losses, a group of four men and 30 women from Mlare village started making wine using overripe bananas that they grew or bought from other farmers.
The group began in 2012 as the Twitule Cooperative, a small group of farmers meeting in Muchenjeli, Karonga, with founding members like Mukandawire. However after training by the COMSIP Cooperative Union, a bigger cooperative, its mission and importance have evolved.
“The project is a source of livelihood for this community and stands as a testimony of how communities in Malawi are fighting the effects of climate change,” said Mercy Chaluma, a representative for COMSIP.
The group says it is able to sell its sweet-tasting alcoholic beverage in other districts in the country and they are also attracting interest from consumers in neighbouring countries like Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Tanzania.
The farmers have no sophisticated equipment, and their winery production plant is a small room with neither electricity nor running water. Workers use 20-litre and 50-litre plastic buckets that serve as mixing and storage jugs.
Twitule winery chairperson Vyanitonda Kasimba said those who work in the winery are members of the cooperative. The group produces a minimum of 50 bottles per day and sells them for 3 000 kwacha (US$1,78) per bottle.
“The cooperative does not have a wine bottling facility, so COMSIP Union purchases wine in bulk from them and facilitates improved bottling that is appealing and helps them with marketing that attracts high prices,” she said.
In a country where more than half the population lives in poverty, the revenue has come in handy. Mukandawire, whose husband is unemployed, has become her family’s breadwinner through proceeds from the wine business.
“Being a member of Twitule wine production helped me to construct better housing structures at my home. I am also able to send my children to school with proceeds from the project,” she said.
Another group member, Evelyn Mwabungulu, has ventured into raising goats using proceeds from the wine project. She started with one goat but now has 14.
“When I sell them, I manage to meet the needs of my family, especially taking my kids to better schools. I am now looking forward to upgrade into cattle farming.” – Al Jazeera