Open AccessVulnerability to Desertification in a Sub-Saharan Region: A First Local Assessment in Five Villages of Southern Region of Malawi
Author(s) -
Riccardo Giuseppe Boschetto,
Rahma Mustafa Mohamed,
Jacopo Arrigotti
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
italian journal of agronomy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.509
H-Index - 24
eISSN - 2039-6805
pISSN - 1125-4718
DOI - 10.4081/ija.2010.s3.91
Subject(s) - desertification , overexploitation , agriculture , geography , subsistence agriculture , land degradation , cropping , resource (disambiguation) , land use , sustainability , environmental protection , agroforestry , environmental resource management , environmental science , ecology , computer network , archaeology , computer science , biology
The study took place between July and September 2008 with the main objective to develop a first local environmental assessment suitable to obtain a general description of the agro-system environment of five villages in the Southern Region of Malawi. The research has been carried out in an administrative sub-division of the peri-urban area of the city of Blantyre, called Ntonda EPA (Extension Planning Area), where target villages had been previously identified for the overexploitation of their natural resource base and the mismanagement of their soils. This study attempts to illustrate the agro-ecosystem of the five villages in the area, their main features and the main anthropic factors, viewed as causes that could lead to desertification. As the matter of fact, the overexploitation of soils, which can be fairly considered as the one and only resource base endowment available in the area. The current farming system, heavily reliant on mere subsistence, is strictly interlinked with unsustainable fertilisation methods and a prevalent lack of socio-economic activities. Poorly planned and managed cropping systems yield low and erratic productions, despite government subsidised chemical fertilisation programmes; post-harvest management and storage are nearly inexistent and so are agricultural commodity exchanges with otherwise fairly accessible urban areas. As a result, agricultural investment (including on soil conservation) is minimal and local areas remain vulnerable to land degradation and ultimately to desertification. The baseline data collected with this research provide information on the main issues that determine the process of land degradation and desertification in the area. The study is based on the analysis of climate and soil parameters. This paper attempts to provide: – a first assessment of vulnerability to desertification at local level, specifically at village level in the Southern Region of Malawi; – an identification of the major causes and trends of agro-system degradation; – a set of recommendations as to how to avoid further degradation of the agro-system before the desertification process becomes irreversible and untreatable