Origin of the project: the Forestry Department (FD) started the project allegedly after the Department failed to manage the Ndirande Forest Reserve. Apparently, the FD used to employ many to plant trees after which they were laid off, but these people set fire to the forest with the view to getting employed again the following season to do more plantings. At the time of handing over the forest to the community, the mountain is said to have been bare. At first, the Chiefs used to allocate plots to farmers but the chiefs started selling the plots secretly. Subsequently, allocation of the plots became the responsibility of the Main Committee of 12 that supervises nine zones surrounding Ndirande Mountain. Each zone has a further local committee of ten people. The number of farmers in the zones varies from 221 to 3,681, giving a total farmer membership of 12,973. In 1996, after the Forestry Department handed over the forest to the community, the present Chairman started plot allocations. He continued after being re-elected in 1998. The plots have ranged from 35x40 m to 70x70 m. Initially the Forestry Department never allowed growing of maize, but only grass slashing was expected. People silently protested by setting fires. Government was later persuaded to allow farming activities, especially growing of maize, in the plots.
Gender:The main committee consists of 12 members (4 women and 8 men) and supervises the nine zones.
Training: The Committees have received training from COMPASS on nursery practice, planting and caring of trees, avoiding bush fires, importance of trees, etc.
Participatory monitoring by grantees: The mission learned that the Committee gives out seedlings and inspects whether they have been actually planted. After two months, they go to inspect to establish survival rates. These are apparently high. The Committee meets once or twice per month depending on issues to be discussed.
Problems/Constraints:The VNRMC feels abandoned by the FD. Apparently there are no extension services. The relationship with FD is thus strained. The Committee has sourced seedlings from various organisations and distributed the seedlings to the community. The COMPASS grant made a tremendous improvement in their efforts, but at the end of 2000, disbursements were stopped because of accountability. At the time of the evaluation at the end of 2001, the matter was not yet resolved. The Committee’s Chairman being interviewed alleged that the main reason for suspending the disbursements was that COMPASS was expecting them to produce 600,000 seedlings because another grantee had done so using a similar amount as that given to the Ndirande group which produced only 120,000 seedlings. COMPASS wanted a full account before further disbursements. The Chairman argued that the money provided was only able to purchase 100,000 plastic tubes while the extra 20,000 was the Committee’s own contribution from Chibuku beer packets. The Committee apparently had the necessary receipts that for some reason were still with the Treasurer. When the mission asked for these receipts, the Chairman produced one receipt for K80,500. He said that the Treasurer could have produced the rest if available. The Chairman felt that the other grantee probably used other sources of funding to reach a target of 600,000.
The mission feels that the above matter can be resolved by convening a meeting (or an extra meeting if this was already done) with the Committee’s Chairman and Treasurer together to examine the records. The Chairman felt anxious to resume activities under COMPASS project. He said that the Committee is still able to buy seedlings and distribute them using moneys collected as plots changed hands when people depart from the area. However, all the nurseries are dormant except the one at Matope.
According to the Chairman, there are other problems as well. Firstly, the Chiefs in some areas resent the powers that the Committees have over land allocation. The Chiefs have wanted to take over some plots. One of the Chiefs has actually contravened the law by himself building a house in the forest area. The Chiefs are moulding bricks and encroaching on the same plots the Committees are protecting, and are easily bribed by people to cut trees. On the Machinjiri side, the Chiefs are doing a pottery business using forest trees. Nevertheless, the Chairman thinks that a good relationship with the farmers is responsible for a measure of success of the project in that there have so far not been fires deliberately set since the farmers realise that the plots belong to them. This ownership recognition is a strong point that the Chairman thinks will be instrumental in the greening of Ndirande Mountain.
Information networking: The mission learned that MANA visited the Ndirande project on 13th January 2001 and publicised it. The Committee holds tree-planting ceremonies every year during tree planting week to which the FD is invited. For the 2002 ceremony, the Committee was planning to conduct this right in Machinjiri where the defiant Chief has built a house in the forest.
Impact: The Chairman thinks the project has done a lot to change people’s attitudes towards tree planting. Secondly, there are many other organisations coming forward to give assistance. Thirdly, the incidence of fires has almost gone, and this is partly due to enforcement of the rule the Committee has established that all farmers must slash their maize stalks. The next target that the Committee has set is to extend the planting onto the higher parts of the mountain.
Sustainability: The Chairman is a highly motivated individual and he claims that his committees have a good relationship with the farmers, although the relationship with the Chiefs is poor. The project is likely to succeed should the majority of the farmers continue to co-operate. The trees that have been planted are still young. They will need care and protection from fire in the medium term. Given enough support, the Committees may be able to achieve this. The ownership of the plots by individual farmers is perhaps the strongest basis for sustainability. When the owners leave, they expect to be compensated as the plots change hands.
Organisational development: The mission learned that the Chairman had made contacts with a donor willing to provide vehicles that could be used to carry manure and distribute to those farmers especially above the Mudi dam so that they stop using fertiliser that leaches into the dam. This initiative has not been followed-up because of lack of appropriate moral support from the Water Board.
