Maternal health

Unsafe abortion contributing to high maternal mortality

June 23, 2012 | Filed under: Local News | Posted by: web editor

By DOREEN NAWA
UNSAFE abortion is a significant contributor to high maternal mortality in Zambia, the Ministry of Health has observed.
In a speech read for him during a meeting on the findings of the operations research on unsafe abortion in Zambia this week, Minister of Health Joseph Kasonde said unsafe abortion contributes about 30 percent to maternal deaths in Zambia.
The research was conducted by IPAS, a global non-governmental organisation dedicated to ending preventable deaths and disabilities from unsafe abortion.
Dr Kasonde said it is imperative to address the scourge if the country is to stop women from dying unnecessarily and also to attain the millennium development goal (MDG) number 5 on maternal health.
“Unsafe aborting is one of the causes of maternal mortality. The issues surrounding abortion are not well known because of the stigma that is associated with it. Many women are dying from unsafe abortion whilst society is watching and putting the blame on the innocent woman, the Minister said.
Dr Kasonde said his ministry is happy that IPAS has been providing the technical and financial assistance for carrying out safe abortions.
Being an emotive issue, abortion has continued to be shrouded in controversy resulting in women dying or suffering complications due to unsafe abortion.
And IPAS Zambia says the activities it is carrying out on safe abortion in Lusaka and other towns countrywide are paying off.
“Ensuring access to safe, legal abortion care and preventing unsafe abortions and unwanted pregnancies could save Zambian women‘s health and save the country thousands of dollars,” Felicia Sakala said.
Ms Sakala says her organisation believes that every woman has the right to safe reproductive health choices, including safe abortion care, adding that with abortion being legal in Zambia no woman should have to risk her life, health, fertility, or her well-being and that of her family because she lacks reproductive health care.
“Women have reproductive rights and it is important to recognise them. Women everywhere must have the opportunity to determine their future, care for their families and manage their fertility,” she said

Article 28 cited as reproductive health threat

REPRODUCTIVE health rights advocates have expressed concern over Article 28 in the draft constitution saying the clause is a barrier to women’s reproductive health rights.

Article 28 of the draft constitution states that a person has, subject to clause (2) and (3), the right to life, which begins at conception, and clause (2) states that a person shall not be deprived of life intentionally, except to the extent authorised by this Constitution or any other law. Clause (3) states that a person may be deprived of life if that person has been convicted of a capital offence and sentenced to death.
In a meeting with parliamentarians in Lusaka during the week, the advocates said the statement the right to life, which begins at conception in the clause, is a barrier to many reproductive health disorders that women face.
The meeting was organised by Ipas Zambia in partnership with Planned Parenthood Association of Zambia (PPAZ) and Marie Stopes Zambia.
In a presentation, Stephen Mupeta said Zambia has a lot of women with infertility problems and should Article 28 go unchanged, treatment of such problems will be difficult.
Dr Mupeta, a medical doctor said processes like the in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) will not be possible should Article 28 be implemented.
“In-vitro fertilisation is a process by which an egg is fertilised by sperm outside the body. In-vitro fertilisation is a major treatment for infertility when other methods of assisted reproductive technology have failed,” Dr Mupeta said.
But according to Dr Mupeta, the clause prohibits the treatment for ectopic pregnancies, treatment for cancers and tumours arising from pregnancies.
“As a person who deals with obstetrics and gynaecology issues, I have handled a lot of women with infertility and other reproductive problems seeking medical attention. Generally ectopic pregnancies affect about 7 percent of pregnancies in Zambia,” Dr Mupeta said.
Article 40 in the current Mung’omba constitution allows abortion and other reproductive complications such as treatment for ectopic pregnancies, treatment for cancers and tumours arising from pregnancies and infertility through the process of in-vitro fertilisation.
And speaking at the same event, Monze member of Parliament Jack Mwiimbu said Article 28 is not a barrier to women’s reproductive health rights.
Mr Mwiimbu said the reproductive health rights advocates misinterpreted the article.
“If you carefully read clause 2, it does not prohibit the treatment of reproductive complications. The problem here is that it has been misinterpreted,” Mr Mwiimbu said.
And Chipangali member of Parliament Vincent Mwale said if the article is not clear, it will be better to define it or get read of it.
“Why put complicated clause that are full of vagueness in the constitution. It is better to remove it,” Mr Mwale said.
Mr Mwale wondered whether the committee on the draft of the constitution has a representative from the medical field in order to give guidelines to the constitutional making process on medical issues.
Published on July 14, 2012.

Circumcision

Chief Mumena leads circumcision crusade

August 1, 2012 | Filed under: Featured Stories,Features | Posted by: web editor

CHIEF MUMENA (left) with Bill Gates and Dr. Mannasseh Phiri.

By DOREEN NAWA
BEING a chief for a tribe that does not practise circumcision, a request from his eighteen-year-old son, Benjamin: ‘Daddy, can I go for circumcision’, was a difficult one for Chief Mumena of Zambia’s Kaonde people in Solwezi, North-Western Province.
“My son went to witness something which is against our culture but life-saving and that is circumcision. Sometime last year, my son came home and direct in my face asked, ‘Daddy, I want to be an MC’. I did not understand that and I asked for a clarification and Benjamin said, ‘MC stands for Male Circumcision’. Because of Benjamin’s confrontation, I was surprised and confused,” Chief Mumena says.
According to the traditional leader, he never expected his son to say such words considering that it is taboo according to the Kaonde people and being a leader, he and his family were expected not to practise what is contrary.
But before he could say anything to his son’s request, Chief Mumena pondered on this puzzle, “The Kaonde people do not practise this ritual called circumcision and my son’s request is against the culture which I have been entrusted to protect, I thought deeply and remained silent for some time.”
Chief Mumena continued thinking, “What are the elders going to think of me if my own son subscribes to something we don’t believe in? How can I let my own family follow the tribal rituals of other tribes instead of their own, and expect my people to respect me?”
Because of being an HIV/AIDS activist and Benjamin mentioning that circumcision has chances of reducing HIV/AIDS infection rate, Chief Mumena allowed his son to go ahead and get circumcised.
“Benjamin had come prepared. He was armed with information to convince me to support his request. He told me, ‘Daddy, the medical experts say that circumcision can lower my chances of becoming infected with HIV by 60 percent and it will also protect me against getting other sexually transmitted infections.”
Being on the throne for almost 12 years now since October 1, 2000 and having been confronted by his son, Chief Mumena is totally convinced that circumcision must be practised by all Zambians regardless of their cultural norms and practices.
“Time has come for all cultures to embrace male circumcision regardless of norms and values because it is a life-saving practice,” says Chief Mumena.
He has since taken an active role in searching for solutions to end the spread of HIV and AIDS and one intervention has been male circumcision, once considered taboo in his chiefdom.
“I have been an HIV/AIDS activist for some time. When I came to the throne on October 1, 2000, I noticed an ever increasing death rate due to HIV/AIDS and I decided to take it up and educate my people.”
Chief Mumena added, “And the scientific evidence on the effectiveness of male circumcision in reducing HIV transmission by at least 60 per cent has brought hope in the challenge of fighting the epidemic and I will continue to encourage my people to go for circumcision even if it is something that our tribe never practise. It is now time to bury certain traditional norms and values.”
Chief Mumena took his advocacy a step further by voluntarily choosing to be circumcised. “I decided to lead by example after the challenge from my 18-ear-old son and right now the debate is already going on and the young people are taking the lead in my chiefdom, a place once considered a non-circumcision ground,” he explained.
Chief Mumena describes the rigidity of some cultures on circumcision regardless of benefits as retrogressive.
Chief Mumena’s stance to voluntarily undergo circumcision to lead by example has won him international recognition. He was recently in Washington DC, where he was invited to a five-day International AIDS 2012 Conference by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to speak on male circumcision.
“Circumcision is no longer looked at as brutal or barbaric, in my chiefdom we have come to realise that it saves lives. How I wish other tribes that do not practise circumcision could realise this too,” he said.
Although historically his tribesmen did not subscribe to the rite, Chief Mumena said circumcision is no longer a custom issue but rather a life-saving procedure.
The chief is not just an advocate but a role model who decided to undergo circumcision after learning about its life-saving benefits.
He is known for publicly encouraging other people to undergo the medical procedure that reduces the risk of heterosexual HIV infection in men by 60 percent.
“Of what benefit are cultural norms if they endanger your life? Culture should be dynamic,” Chief Mumena said.
The male circumcision crusade in Zambia faces challenges from religious groups and other people who say there is not enough evidence to show that the practice curbs AIDS.
Statistics show a 13.5 percent HIV/AIDS prevalence rate and that less than 20 percent of all males are circumcised.
The United Nations 2010 report indicated that universal male circumcision in sub-Saharan Africa could prevent 5.7 million new infections and three million deaths over 20 years.
According to Zambia’s Society for Family Health (SFH), an international non-governmental organisation and a leading social marketing organisations focusing mainly on HIV prevention, protective effect of medical male circumcision is evident in areas where it (circumcision) is practiced.
SFH Male Circumcision programme manager Alick Samona says the procedure makes men less likely to acquire human papilloma virus, the virus that causes cervical cancer.
“It does not only reduce chances of contracting the HIV and improves hygiene but it also helps protect your wife. Circumcision helps your spouse to be less likely to get cervical cancer, because a man can give a woman his HPV which hides in the foreskin,” Mr Samona says.
Mr Samona describes circumcision as one of the ancient practices, “Even in the Bible, circumcision is mentioned and it was practised, if you read about Moses and Abraham, you will agree with me. It is not a new practice and in areas where it is practiced like North-Western Province, the HIV prevalence rate is very low.
“According to the Ministry of Health, North-Western Province is the only province that has exceeded targets for voluntary medical male circumcision,” Mr Samona says.
The ministry aims to have 80 percent of men between 15 and 49 circumcised by 2015. With such a target, it is said that circumcision could prevent 350, 000 new HIV infections by 2025.
The target for Zambia is to circumcise 2.5 million males by 2020 as once proposed according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Only two tribes in Zambia are known for observing this ordinance out of tradition. The Lundas and the Luvales of North-Western Province stand out.

Arts

Former Black Power leader releases album

August 11, 2012 | Filed under: Entertainment | Posted by: web editor

FELIX Banda and Victor Mwamba Picture By ANGELA NTETABUNGA.

By DOREEN NAWA
ONE way to get through a new message is through songs and this is exactly what former Black Power Band leader Victor Mwamba has done.
Mwamba from the singers of Imisango yaba Chaimani (trends of a leader) that made rounds in the 80s is now the band leader of the Chipulumutso band.
Chipulumutso (meaning survival) has been in existence for more than 10 years and recently compiled a 10 track Digital Video Disc (DVD) entitled Samva.
The efforts of the Chipulumutso band of Katete’s Soweto Township have been focused on spreading information.
This also includes highlighting new perspectives on the value of using alternative methods to communicate.
The focus in all the tracks is on combating HIV/ AIDS and unity.
“I have been a caregiver for more than 15 years and in the year 2000, I decided to form a band in Eastern province to help take the HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment messages to far areas,” Mwamba says.
Among the notable tracks in the DVD include; the title track Samva which is a warning against promiscuity, Ayamankhwala referring to the importance of Anti-Retroviral Drugs.
The track talks about the importance of going for testing and if found positive, the drugs are there to prolong one’s life.
The Chipulumutso band is looking for sponsorship to release their first album.
According to band co-leader Felix Banda, advocacy through songs has for many years proven to be effective.
“We have come to realise that music plays a big role in the work we are doing. I only hope people will help us to have this album released. As you many know, HIV/AIDS is a challenge and we need everyone’s effort,” Banda says.
Other tracks in the album include Ubwino, Anthu tonse, Chisontesonteke, Zambia yathu, malaria and Akaunda.

Forest

United Nations project to revive Zambia’s forest

July 19, 2012 | Filed under: Featured Stories,Features | Posted by: web editor

NURSERY for future forest

By DOREEN NAWA
MONITORING forestry losses in Zambia and the effects that the loss has on the environment can be a challenge because of lack of technical know-how.
Following the effects that deforestation has on the environment in relation to climate change, the situation in Zambia is rather a hopeless case for the lack of expertise in monitoring and managing forestry countrywide.
Environmental advocates say that forests play a critical role in mitigating climate change through the confiscation and storage of carbon in woody perennial biomass and soils.
Unfortunately, deforestation and forest degradation account for approximately 18 percent of annual global carbon dioxide emissions.
But all hope is not lost following the recently held training organised by the forestry department in the Ministry of Lands, Natural Resources and Environmental Protection under the United Nations collaborative programme on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (UN-REDD) project and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).
The training was meant to build capacity of stakeholders in greenhouse gas reporting as well as Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV) system as support to the readiness process of forestry management in Zambia.
“The training is critical to the sustainability and successful management of out forests in the country. By the way addressing the driver of deforestation is the cheaper way of addressing climate change,” director in the forestry department, Anne Masinja says.
According to Mrs Masinja, management of the forest has been a challenge following massive deforestation due to charcoal burning, unsustainable agricultural and unsustainable land use practices.
“It is a pity that most of the people do not realise the harm they are causing to the environment due to careless cutting of trees. Loss of forests contributes as much as 30 percent of global greenhouse-gas emissions each year and this is very dangerous, we need to do something to stop this,” Mrs Masinja says.
Zambia has approximately 50 million hectares of forest, with an estimated deforestation rate of 250,000 to 300,000 hectares per year.
“Zambia is faced with a number of challenges in reducing deforestation and forest degradation caused by various factors like energy requirement, unsustainable agricultural and unsustainable land use practices, timber and non-timber forest products extraction, mining and infrastructure development,” Mrs Masinja said.
Statistics show that between 1990 and 2010, Zambia lost an average of 166,600 hectares or 0.32 per cent per year of its forest mainly due to deforestation resulting from charcoal burning (energy requirements), unsustainable agricultural and land use practices such as mining and infrastructure development, and timber and non-timber forest products extraction.

Indiscriminate charcoal burning is fast destroying Zambia's forest cover.

With global concern growing over deforestation, loss of carbon stored in forests and the role of forests in climate change, the spotlight has been turned on forest monitoring in a bid to safeguard forests and monitor emissions from deforestation.
In another recent effort in the monitoring and managing of the forest in the country was the handover of Geographical Information System (GIS) equipment to the department.
As part of the mission to monitor the remaining forest in the country, the participants were also trained to undertake a countrywide remote sensing survey of forests.
The survey will substantially improve knowledge on land use including deforestation, reforestation and natural expansion of forests.
It is hoped that the training and the handover of new GIS equipment, the forestry department and other stakeholders will strengthen the capacity of all provinces countrywide to monitor their own forests.
“The need to improve national forest monitoring is overwhelming as the demand for information has never been greater even in the face of some challenges. National policy processes are striving to address cross-cutting issues such as poverty alleviation and food security related to forests,” Julian Fox, Food and Agriculture Organization UN-REDD MRV facilitator for Zambia says.
FAO supports Zambia’s efforts to close the knowledge gap through field inventories and forest monitoring systems.
“Deforestation continues at an alarming rate of about 13 million hectares annually at the global level. By combining remote sensing technology with field data collection, we improve the quality of both methods. This provides more accurate information on forest trends and new information on the drivers of deforestation and forest degradation,” Dr Fox says during his facilitation at the training.
About REDD
In 2005, a group of developing countries launched a new initiative that put forest conversation on the international agenda known as REDD.
While REDD is a new name, the activities to ensure reduced deforestation and forest degradation are well known to Zambians and these include conservation agriculture, community based natural resources management, joint forest management, sustainable energy projects (solar, improved stoves), enhancing policy and legislative frameworks.
REDD therefore calls for an integrated approach to forest management, the main reason for the training.
Land use change and especially deforestation contributes about 20 percent of greenhouse gas emissions.
Under the UN-REDD programme, Zambia is expected to come up with a policy statement to regulate forest and the country is said to have been making steady progress towards the UN-REDD collaborative programme.
The UN-REDD programme assists developing countries to prepare and implement national REDD strategies and mechanisms towards addressing climate change.
Zambia is one of the nine countries piloting the UN-REDD programme that helps countries to get ready for the REDD mechanism in addressing climate change.
The other eight countries include Tanzania, Democratic Republic of Congo, Bolivia, Viet Nam, Paraguay, New Papua Guinea, Panama and Indonesia.
And during the training, UN-REDD national co-ordinator Deuteronomy Kasaro said, “UN-REDD Programme is not a development project as it has been understood by some, but instead it is a process of consultations, strategic planning, creative thinking and seeking realistic solutions to reduce deforestation and forest degradation and make REDD work for Zambia.”
“In recognition of the role REDD can plan in reducing emissions and facilitating sustainable socio-economic development, the Government of the Republic of Zambia is presently assessing the opportunities that can be potentially delivered through REDD,” Mr Kasaro added.
While the goal of reversing deforestation and achieving sustainable development is clear, the path to reach it can only be paved by Zambia and Zambians themselves.
The growing interest among stakeholders towards REDD is felt not only through the high participation in the training while developing its UN-REDD national programme document, but also through the numerous questions and discussions with people and organisations willing to support the efforts to protect the forests in Zambia.
The questions range from a request to provide seedlings for a tree-planting at a local school for guidance on designing sub-national forest monitoring systems that are aligned to the national measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) framework.
Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation or REDD also mitigates climate change by changing the amount of carbon dioxide emissions to the atmosphere from the existing forest carbon stocks.
Carbon is becoming a commodity which can be managed and traded as a household and community income stream. The involvement in measurement and monitoring of forest carbon by local people can empower them as co-managers of areas under REDD projects.
At international level it has been recognised that addressing the drivers of deforestation is one of the cheaper ways to mitigate against the impact of climate change. Hence the ability of stakeholders to assess and monitor landuse changes aimed at addressing the drivers of deforestation being vital.
It is believed that understanding drivers of deforestation and sources of greenhouse gas emissions in landuse, landuse change and forestry will enhance capacity to effectively monitor the source and potential changes.
In fact poverty plays a major role in deforestation. Just like in any other developing country, in Zambia most people in rural areas have no the options for survival like jobs or reliable businesses and rural people end up in the forest for survival.
The high poverty level costs the entire world through the loss of forests (deforestation). Without finding a lasting solution to poverty, saving the forests providing for these people, rainforests cannot be saved.
Misunderstandings
While there are uncertainties in both the international REDD framework and the national arrangements, it is essential not to let these uncertainties discourage the actors who feel the urgency of acting now to stop deforestation.
To quell misunderstandings about the programme and to reassure the multitude of actors involved, a significant part of the programme funding has been allocated to building the institutional arrangements and stakeholder engagement processes that provide a platform for discussing the issues and finding the answers that work best the Zambian context.

Street Naming

ZICTA in street naming project

August 13, 2012 | Filed under: Features | Posted by: web editor

PART of the audience that attended the meeting in Kalingalinga. - PICTURE By DOREEN NAWA.

By DOREEN NAWA
IT is one of the vital requirements for any pupil enrolling at a new school to give a residential address or just particulars of the person’s abode.
But for people residing in most Zambian townships like Kalingalinga, this would definitely be a challenge.
Kalingalinga is one of the residential areas in Lusaka that do not have residential addresses and street names and this has prompted the birth of a project called National Addressing and Postcode Project.
There are numerous benefits to street naming and well-coordinated residential addresses. Think of a house catching fire in Kalingalinga and the firefighters have to locate a house to put out the fire or a post master wanting to deliver an urgent mail to a Kalingalinga resident.
And just how does one locate a house in Kalingalinga, ‘complicated’ puzzle here.
Firstly, there are no residential addresses on the houses and secondly, the streets have no names.
But such a challenge will soon be history following a street naming project by the Zambia Information and Communication Technology Authority (ZICTA) with the help from the Lusaka City Council (LCC). The project is a brainchild of ZICTA.
Recently, ZICTA launched this development and implementation of a comprehensive National Addressing System in Zambia called the National Addressing and Postcode Project.
The primary objective of the project is to capture in a national database, the address details of all residential and commercial properties in the country, to enable users of the database to search for, and find, the physical address of all captured properties.
Speaking during the launch in Kalingalinga, ZICTA public relations officer Chisha Malunda-Shimungalu says, “Lack of addresses is a barrier not only to the provision of postal and courier services, but a host of social and commercial services as well.”
The project will involve the naming of unnamed streets, numbering houses and other properties, actual deployment of street-name signs in the affected neighbourhoods as well as house numbers on the individual houses in those areas.
“Street names in any city or township often appear to be insignificant and only present to guide lost travellers; however the history behind the names often reveals a past that reflects their true importance,” says Mrs Shimungalu.
She says utility companies will also find it extremely challenging to deliver essential services such as water and electricity, and to collect revenue from their customers in the absence of an addressing system.
Apart from selected neighbourhoods in Lusaka and Copperbelt provinces, which have properly named streets with logically allocated house numbers that are easy to locate, most of the country is in dire need of address infrastructure.
ZICTA further notes that the Post Office Box or P.O.Box addressing system which is currently the most widely used in the country is clearly not sufficient to cater for the whole population and, more importantly, cannot provide the various benefits that are associated with a physical or residential address mainly because of the current addressing system.
The project will also involve the development of addressing standards that will ensure uniformity and order in the allocation of addresses, and the development of national postcode system.
The project will be implemented in phases, commencing with a six-month pilot phase in the selected parts of Lusaka Province namely Northmead, the central business district, Kamwala South, Kalingalinga, and a village to be identified in due course.
Upon successful completion of the pilot phase, the project will be extended to the rest of the country over the next three years.
There was a rekindling interest in the naming of streets in Kalingalinga as evidenced by the number of people that attended the launch.
Kalingalinga ward 31 councillor Emson Mbewe spoke of the determination of the government to implement street names in various communities countrywide.
“This project may seem a worst of time for people that do not understand. But from the number of people that are here, I can safely say that the project is a positive one and we will succeed. It is important to embark on a project like this one for many reasons like security, in case a family is attacked by thieves, police will have easy access and render their help to the victims,” Mr Mbewe says.
But just how helpful is the naming of streets? Of what benefit is the adoring of a street to the economy and the ordinary man on the street?
Many reasons were cited during the launch of the project in Kalingalinga as to why it is important to embark on a street naming project within Kalingalinga area and other townships.
One remarkable statement made by the area councillor was the fact that the process was complicated because of the illegal construction of houses.
“This project needs experts and it needs to be carefully looked at to give location or for finding fire service and police services and geographical analysis,” Mr Mbewe says.
An address is a means of identifying a location that enables people to reach it as well as various goods and services to be delivered to that location. The location can be a home or shop, factory or any business.
Without addresses, ambulances, firefighters, police and security services cannot get to those in need on time.
Furthermore, postal and courier companies cannot deliver their letters and parcels efficiently.
Opening a bank account or buying goods on a hire purchase agreement all require a verifiable physical address to be provided.
Lack of addresses is therefore a barrier not only to the provision of postal and courier services but a host of social and commercial services as well.
Addresses are in this sense essential for social and economic development as they allow people to be connected to the formal economy.
Unfortunately, the majority of people in Zambia and most developing countries do not have an address in the true meaning of the word.
The recent spate of crime in Kalingalinga has raised several questions. The question that every concerned Zambian is asking is whether the police are really in control.
Consider armed robbery for example. The r absence of street names means that when a person is attacked by an armed robber, their location cannot be accurately be communicated to the police.
The police should be able to check within the shortest possible time where exactly the victim is for quick response.
If street naming had been intensely pursued, the information provided by the potential victim could be fed into the system which could then immediately show on a computer screen, upon query, a representation of the geography of the area where the victim resides including their very own precise location.
It is against this background that ZICTA has prioritised the development and implementation of the national address and postcode project.
The project is expected to be of great benefit, not only to the delivery of postal and courier services that are regulated by ZICTA but also positively impact the response to fire, police and ambulance emergency services by various wings of government.

Charcoal production

Charcoal production: Crisis or opportunity

August 21, 2012 | Filed under: Features | Posted by: web editor

By DOREEN NAWA
BEING the cheapest source of energy for not only Zambia’s poor but also the middle-class, usage of charcoal is vital countrywide.
Amid calls from national, regional and international communities on sustainable production and consumption of charcoal, the country is at crossroads.
Charcoal production is one of the major drivers of climate change because of its production process and the link between charcoal production and deforestation.
Currently the situation has been received with mixed feelings because besides being the cheapest source of energy countrywide, charcoal is also perceived as a quicker and easier way of earning money for both mostly the rural and urban populace.
It is with no doubt that drivers of charcoal production include high poverty levels, lack of employment and alternative livelihoods and these put Zambia’s forest at risk following the ever-increasing number of people in charcoal production.
Nchimunya Mweemba, a charcoal trader at Lusaka’s Mtendere market says charcoal business is the most convenient for her because it does not need huge capital for its start.
“We have been in this business for quite some time. I and my husband usually give each other shifts, at the moment I am here and he is in Kalomo for charcoal production. Once the charcoal is ready for sale, he will transport it here [Lusaka] where it is on demand,” Mrs Mweemba says.

Sacks of Charcoal ready for sale in the Lower Zambezi National park- Picture courtesy of Forestry department.

Seating comfortably on the remains of charcoal, Mrs Mweemba makes her cup of sweet late evening tea at the market, prodding the coal embers beneath her kettle.
“This is home. I spend my whole time here at the market selling charcoal and once it is finished my husband will come with more sacks and I will go back to Kalomo to check on the children,” Mrs Mweemba says.
Asked why she cannot venture in farming instead of charcoal production, Mrs Mweemba had this to say, “But the rains do not come on time anymore. Instead of starting in November, you find it starts in December and stops early. You will find that by February the rains are gone. And if you have planted maize, the yield will be very poor not even enough for consumption that is why charcoal production is the best option for us in rural areas.”
But it is not the government that is sanctioning the chopping of the hardwood; it is the choice of the charcoal producers because charcoal made out of hardwood is more attractive.
“Demand for charcoal in the urban areas has created a market for the production of charcoal. It is undisputable that charcoal is a cheaper source of energy compared to electricity, charcoal is a major source of income for people in rural areas,” one of the consultants Jacob Mwitwa said at the presentation of the two recent charcoal studies in Zambia at Pamodzi Hotel in Lusaka.
Zambia’s hardwood forests are falling prey to poor villagers who are chopping down trees and surviving off the proceeds from selling charcoal.
Mostly these poor villagers are jobless and have little opportunity to support their families and charcoal production is the easiest business venture.
The Forestry Department (FD) estimates that up to 300,000 hectares of forest were being cleared each year.
According to FD director Annie Masinja, now the rate of deforestation could be almost twice that.
“Zambia has one of the highest rates in terms of deforestation. It has one of the world’s highest rates of deforestation in a place where the rainy season has already been cut in half. As you may be aware, forest plays an important role in mitigating the effects of climate change,” Mrs Masinja says.
According to Mrs Masinja, government has made unproductive attempts to curb the destruction of the forests.
Government has banned the production of charcoal without a licence and the cutting down of trees in natural reserves like game management areas and areas gazette as forest reserves.
The ban has not been effective following little option that charcoal traders have for survival. But with the high unemployment levels among the rapidly growing population, charcoal production becomes an easy and worthy business venture to engage in.
According to the two studies recently launched, less than 20 percent of Zambians have access to electricity making charcoal the only option.
A 25-kilogram sack of charcoal (malasha) costs between K25,000 and K35,000, a substantial sum for something produced at little or no cost at all.
For those that can not afford to buy a sack of charcoal, the commodity is even more affordable at the market.
Once the bag of charcoal is taken to the market, the sack can be divided into smaller piles, tucked into translucent pastel plastic bags selling for as low as K1,000.
Another consultant on the recent two charcoal studies in Zambia Davison Gumbo says Zambian charcoal is particularly popular in the region because of its renown for burning cleanest and longest.
“From our study, we found out that the charcoal produced in Zambia does not only end up in Zambia, a lot of it is being exported to other countries and is on demand. You may wish to know that charcoal production is in three categories: those that produce on a larger scale [export purposes], the seasonal producers [mostly peasant famers] who produce just to buy inputs and the youths [Those that produce just to have money],” Mr Gumbo says.
According to Mr Gumbo, Zambia’s charcoal is made from the country’s precious hardwood and burns longer that other charcoal from Zambia’s neighboring countries.
Mr Gumbo says during the study, most non-Zambians they came across, recommended the Zambian charcoal.
On the Great East Road, an hour barely passes without seeing Fuso trucks transporting charcoal to Lusaka where the commodity is on demand.
And one may wonder, is there hope for trees in Zambia? And the answer is yes. Minister of Lands, Natural Resources and Environment Protection Wylbur Simuusa says there is hope following Zambia’s engagement with various stakeholder and international partners on how best to address the production and consumption of charcoal in the country.
“From the two studies presented to us, I can see that charcoal production hinges on the survival of most people especially the rural populace. As government we will ensure that we consult widely before taking any step.
You can ask people not to cut down trees and not give them an alternative and we are here to learn from our partners like the Finish government and the Food and Agriculture Organisation including numerous partners I cannot mention name by name here,” Mr Simuusa says.
Knowing that others outside Zambia are speaking the conservation language, it helps Zambia to start tentative shuffling steps in that direction.
An aerial view over Zambia in the dry season looks like a nation on fire with smoke filling the sky.
Many of these fires are started by people busy cutting trees to make charcoal or clearing new land for farm land. Charcoal production is increasing at alarming rates in Zambia and is contributing to large-scale land degradation, habitat loss, watershed damage, down-river flooding and huge carbon output.
Forest products do not only include charcoal, among the forest product is honey, a product too on high demand following its healthy values.
Charcoalers are eager for an alternative source of income and most recognize the practice is destructive and harms their future but lack the technical knowhow on how to harvest honey from the forests.
To reverse the alarming deforestation levels in Zambia, the need to mobilise and train communities in alternative livelihood skills like honey production is vital.