Government through the Department of Climate Change and Meteorological Services has announced that sunny, hazy, and hot to very hot weather will persist until Tuesday afternoon, October 1st.

However, from Tuesday night through Sunday, October 6th, 2024, conditions are expected to change significantly, bringing windy and cloudy weather, a drop in temperatures, localized drizzle, heavy rain, and isolated thunderstorms.

This shift will be due to the convergence of southeasterly and easterly air masses. Additionally, Mwera winds are expected to blow over Lake Malawi during this period.

The department has however advised residents are advised to prepare accordingly for the upcoming weather changes.

A small-scale farmer in northern region of Malawi, Emily Nkhana is now making banana wine from rotten or over ripe banana.

Extreme heat was causing bananas to ripen too quickly, resulting in heavy losses for Ms Nkhana and many other farmers who live in Karonga district.

The lady discovered how to make banana wine as she peels lemons that would be used to preserve the taste of bananas at the processing plant of Twitule Cooperative Group.

For the farmers, it is not just about making wine – but also survival, resilience, and embracing the new possibilities that come with a changing climate.

They used to farm next to the shores of Lake Malawi and their banana plantations were being washed away by rising water levels due to increased rainfall, forcing them to move to higher but hotter grounds, where temperatures soar to 42C.

“Down at the old farm, our challenge was loads of water from the lake. Some of the bananas used to drown in water. Some, you couldn’t even see where we planted.

Banana wine might sound unusual to those accustomed to the flavours of traditional wine, but for those who have tasted it, the experience is anything but disappointing.

The wine, which can range in colour from pale yellow to a rich amber, has a slightly sweet, fruity taste, often accompanied by a subtle aroma and a light lemon and banana flavour.

Banana Wine

BBC

More than 50 people have died in India over the past three days as a brutal heat spell continues to grip parts of the country.

Around 33 people died in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh over the weekend due to the heat.

In Odisha (Orissa) state, about 20 people died due to heat stroke, an official told ANI news agency.

Many of these deaths were reported on 1 June as India voted in the last phase of polling for its general election.

The results of the election are set to be announced on 4 June.

Every five years, India holds its general election in the summer months of April and May.

But this year, the temperatures have been record-breaking, with the country experiencing frequent, more intense and longer heatwaves.

The federal health ministry says that there have been at least 56 confirmed heat strokes deaths from 1 March to 30 May. About 24,849 heatstroke cases were reported during the period

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The afternoon rains on December 13, 2023 wreaked havoc at Nkhwangwa Community Day Secondary School in Thyolo District, causing destruction and unroofing several classrooms.

This incident occurred shortly after the Department of Weather and Climate Change warned Malawians to anticipate heavy rain on Wednesday, December 13, 2023.

As of now, the education authorities at Nkhwangwa Community Day Secondary School have not provided any official statement on the situation.

Image: https://unsplash.com/photos/r1BS0pzlr1M

Just Stop Oil, Insulate the World, Avoid the Extinction and Rebel: these are the evocatively named pressure groups that have made the headlines in 2023. No matter where you look, whether it’s art galleries in the UK or highways in Italy, you’ll find people taking action and making the mainstream news.

Clearly there’s support for these types of movements as we see from the increasing numbers of people, and larger spread of countries, that are joining in. But the question is: Are we just focusing on the very loud voices of a tiny disruptive minority, or are we hearing the true voice of the silent majority?

Climate change is one of those weirdly polarizing issues that causes many seemingly sane people to lose their heads and jump to conclusions. In many cases, they do so out of a need to try and fit into a particular political narrative they’ve chosen. They have adopted this set of political principles, now they have to feel a set way about climate change. The result? A divisive issue that leads to many people arguing, throwing insults and changing very little. We want to move past these tensions here and look at the issue from a different angle.

By putting aside judgements as to the degree to which climate change is a) occurring and b) manmade, we want to focus instead on how citizen-driven action is likely to evolve. And this is more than idle speculation, it’s a way of understanding how the silent majority are likely to be influenced by the actions of those who are clearly setting out how they feel about the future of the planet.

Images of protestors throwing soup or other liquids at priceless paintings that are actually shielded behind half an inch of bulletproof glass initially shock us, but they achieve very little in terms of reaction afterwards. They were initially a good talking point on evening news but have no real impact once the fact that all such paintings are amply shielded becomes widely known. While some will attempt to raise awareness, and potentially their own personal profile as an activist, with such public displays, they’re unlikely to generate sufficient outrage to continue the debate in a meaningful way.

At the other end of the spectrum we have the overnight road closures in and around major cities, as demonstrated by a sky-high protest in London recently. The activists were jailed for 3 years, widespread disruption and delays were caused, and the average person in the street who lived nearby will have been severely inconvenienced. The problem here is that when people are simply trying to get to and from work, job interviews and medical appointments to name but a few, they don’t want to be delayed.

When they find out that someone has caused a delay to raise awareness of an issue they may well be undecided on, the chances of them taking a reasoned look at their motivations is very small. The chances of converting someone who is against the need for a dramatic shift in the way we consume energy also becomes vanishingly small. But due to the dramatic nature of such protests, and how just a couple of people can cause such disruption, we can expect to see them popping up throughout at least the next 6-12 months.

By far and away the most common type of protests have been slow marches or sit downs in major city centers, often accompanied by locking and gluing. While the protestors themselves often stress how they’re being nonviolent, reaction to them is anything but: banners and bags thrown to the side of the road, verbal abuse and even vehicles refusing to stop as they slowly push through are all common sights on social media. The issue here is that when you stop the everyday person at the point they need to do something, you’re unlikely to get a reasoned debate out of them. They need to be somewhere, doing something at a specific time. We all have lives to lead and yet a select few seem to have self-appointed their needs as more important than everyone else on the road — at least that’s the thought train of the angriest drivers in the traffic jam. These types of protests are dramatic, newsworthy, cheap and scale limitlessly. Expect them to continue but expect legal loopholes to be gradually closed and them ultimately be forced onto the pavements. Whether we think that’s right or wrong is besides the point; this is the way we anticipate events unfolding throughout the rest of 2023, and beyond.

So, what else can we get by looking more at the protests and how they will potentially take shape in the weeks and months ahead? Well, one of the key reasons they continue to evolve is that the law responds to them. Clearly the protests can result in changes in the law, but are they ever going to get to the point of changing widespread economic and environmental policies, rather than simply granting the police new powers of arrest and dispersal?

Governments around the world have recently made changes to everything from road safety laws for cyclists to rules covering activities like online slots or legal minimum wages that can be paid to workers. While each of these may seem like quick processes because a day came when they came into force overnight, creating and passing the legislation behind them was anything but that.

Knee-jerk reactions fueled by popular sentiment don’t result in balanced and finely balanced environmental legislation. While it will be interesting to see how the protests evolve, the biggest shift will come when big businesses and the silent majority push for gradual, incremental change.

President Lazarus Chakwera has said his government has chosen Agriculture Productivity and Industrialization as key issues in Malawi 2063 Vision.

Chakwera made the remarks today during the 6th graduation ceremony at Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural resources (LUANAR).

According to Chakwera, human civilization can exist and function without computers but human civilization cannot function or exist without agriculture progress.

Chakwera continued that graduates from different colleges or universities like doctors or lawyers, should not only build there career using their skills but to invest their incomes to farming.

in his remarks, President Chakwera  asked all newly graduates to bare in mind that they are fully in charge of change of the country and the new future of Malawi is in their hands.

Finally, Chakwera urged Malawians to grow crops that do well without more rain and user export as the way of maximizing economic income in the country.

439 graduated today with Diplomas, Degrees and PHDs at Bunda campus.

Malawi’s Attorney General (AG) Thabo Chakaka Nyirenda has open up that they have recovered US$182, 000 (MK186 million) from the amount credited into the account of the company dubiously contracted to supply inputs in the Affordable Input Programme (AIP).

In his speech, Nyirenda said that the remaining $543,000 (K564 million) is stuck in Germany where the police have arrested a man and grab his assets over his involvement in the K750 million AIP fertilizer procurement case.

“The government has engaged an extra gear to have the full amount recovered and currently part of the amount is already remitted into government coffers. My assurance to the nation is that the money would be fully recovered. We have already recovered US$182, 000 (MK186 million) and the remaining US$543, 000 (MK564 million) is still frozen in Germany,” Nyirenda said.

In addition to this, he said necessary paperwork to have the remaining amount recovered has been processed.

During his national address on Tuesday last week, President Dr. Lazarus Chakwera expressed disappointment with the way the ministry handled the contract that saw Malawians being defraud through a dubious contract and he vowed that his government would recover the money defraud through the fertilizer deal.

Minister of Agriculture Sam Dalitso Kawale has said all preparatory work for the successful implementation of this year’s Affordable Inputs Program (AIP) is over.

Kawale said this in a statement posted on his official facebook page seen by this publication.

“During the past six weeks, we have managed to do the preparatory work of ensuring that this year’s AIP is successful.

“Hon. Jacob Hara and myself traveled to Maputo, Beira, and Nacara, where we met government officials, Port officials, fertilizer companies, logistics companies, warehouse managers, and railway companies, to coordinate the delivery of fertilizer to Malawi,” wrote Kawale.

He added: “Our first meeting was with the Minister of Transport of Mozambique. Our discussions focused much on how the Mozambique government would assist us to deliver all the fertilizer we need, not just for this year, but for years to come.

“After this meeting, Hon. Hara and I went to Beira for meetings with Port Authorities and other stakeholders.”

President Dr. Lazarus Chakwera last week fired Minister of Agriculture Lobin Lowe over AIP mess which saw government being duped MK750 million.

Animals behave differently during mating, they produce different types of sounds. Some get aggressive, while others are always calm and submissive during the act. Today, I will be highlighting one of the main reasons why the female cat gets hostile and yells at male cats during mating. In addition to that, it goes to an extent of attacking the male cat during the act or just immediately after the act.

Feline aggression is attributed to the male cat’s reproductive organs, which contain penile spines, which look like small needles or thorns. Feminine cats have flattened their spinal column after the male has inserted his spermatozoa into the female’s pelvis. Spikes on the cat’s sexual organ scratch its wall, allowing bacteria into the cat’s organ and infecting it.

The main function of the penile spines found on the male’s reproductive organ is to rapture the walls of the vagina. This process is very critical in the reproductive cycle of the domestic cat because it is responsible for triggering the ovulation process in the game cats. According to different reports published by reliable sources indicates that the chances of the female cat mating again will be high because the cat will be on heat thus the need to find a mate probably after 24 hours after the first mating.

The female cat aggressively attacks the male cat during mating because it wants to defend itself from the male. During mating, the male cat keeps the female securely in this posture to prevent her from turning around and attacking him. Most of the time, the male cat usually holds the neck of the female cat to prevent it from turning and lodging an attack.

The video below provides more interesting details about this special behavior. Click the YouTube link below to watch the video.

Minister of Agriculture Lobin Lowe has expressed concern over the low prices that Milk producers are receiving from buyers.

Lowe registered the concern at Bvumbwe in Thyolo district when commemorating World Milk Day which falls on 1 June each year and this year’s day was sponsored by Shire Highlands Milk Producers Association (SHMPA).

Lowe said his ministry will continue sponsoring farmers through Agricultural Commercialization Project (AGCOM) with the aim of helping the farmers to buy agricultural machine for making various kinds of end products in order for them to make a lot of profits.

“My ministry will make sure to give money to the farmers for buying the machine which will help in making different products such as yoghurt, cheese and ice cream,” he said.

According to Sibongile, SHMPA member said the prices which buyers are offering is very low compared to the process of producing milk from the cattle.

“The price that the buyers offer is of great worry, they buy K220 per litter which is a very lower price compared to the process of milk production,” Sibongile explained.

SHMPA has more farmers national wide and manages to collect over 140, 000 litters of milk everyday which gives a total amount of 30 million kwacha a day.

I wonder how people survive in toxic relationships? Regardless of the enjoyment that they derive from the relationship, it is best to step out of it when you can.

A young Ghanian lady has been spotted in this viral video as she destroys the boyfriend’s expensive flatscreen TV.

This is true from a new video that is currently making rounds on social media.

The video sees the exact moment the young lady managed to plug out the TV set that was attached to the wall.

She threw it to the flow and without hesitating, she jumped on it, destroying the expensive appliance.

People are running to safety after a powerful 7.6 earthquake struck off the coast of Indonesia near Flores Island.

Videos shared on social media show people fleeing in terror.

One clip shows people running inside a hospital in an evacuation to ensure people remain safe after vibrations were felt.

Another video shows the damage done inside a building in the aftermath of the vibrations. In the video, wooden roof supports had fallen and parts of the ceiling lay on the ground.

A photo shows a wall of a house completely destroyed with debris on the street outside.

The 7.6 quake struck off the coast of Indonesia, 71 miles north of Maumere at a depth of 10km, the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre has said.

A tsunami warning has also been issued for the islands.

The US-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre said that waves were “possible for coasts within 1,000kms of Indonesia quake epicentre.”

Hotel employees based in Tanjun Bunga Makassar near Makassar City were evacuated due to the vibration of the ground.

Indonesia is prone to quakes due to its location on the “Ring of Fire”, an arc of volcanoes and fault lines within the basin of the Pacific Ocean.

A swarm of bees has killed 63 endangered African penguins on a beach outside Cape Town, the Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds said.

The protected birds were found dead in Simon’s Town, a small town near Cape Town home to a colony of penguins, and taken for post-mortems.

“After tests, we found bee stings around the penguins’ eyes,” said the foundation’s David Roberts, a clinical veterinarian, on Sunday.

“This is a very rare occurrence. We do not expect it to happen often, it’s a fluke.

“There were also dead bees on the scene,” he told AFP by telephone.

The area is a national park and the Cape honeybees are part of the ecosystem.

“The penguins … must not die just like that as they are already in danger of extinction. They are a protected species,” said Roberts.

Move over, Attenborough! Penguin Town is the cuddly nature show for our times

Read more

South African National Parks said samples had also been sent for disease and toxicology testing.

“There were no external physical injuries found on any of the birds,” a parks statement said.

The postmortems showed all the penguins had multiple bee stings.

African penguins, which inhabit the coast and islands of southern Africa, are on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s red list, meaning they face a high risk of extinction.

Anand Dhawaj Negi, a retired bureaucrat turned desert farmer, spent over two decades of his life turning the cold wastes of northern India’s Himachal Pradesh into a vibrant oasis.

In 1977, the Indian Government kickstarted an ambitious program to mitigate the adverse effects of desertification in the Asian country’s cold and hot deserts. A. D. Negi  worked in the financial department in charge of the Desert Development Program and saw millions of dollars go down the drain with no real results to show for it. Whenever he asked scientists and officials involved in the program why there was no real progress, the answer would always be that they lacked the technology to develop any type of sustainable crops in the inhospitable environment that is the desert. A farmer’s son himself, Negi grew tired of excuses and took a leave of absence in 1999 to take a crack at it himself. By 2003, he had already permanently retired from his job to concentrate all of his energy on his growing desert oasis.

A native of Sunam village in Kinnaur, Negi took it upon himself to turn a barren patch of land in the cold desert of Himachal Pradesh into a green oasis just to show everyone, particularly the struggling farmers in the area that it could be done. It wasn’t the easiest thing to do in the world, but the former bureaucrat knew what he was getting into and had the ambition and patience to see it through.

A. D. Negi’s first attempts failed, because the seeds he planted didn’t have enough water, so that was his first challenge. He employed contour planting – tilling sloped land along a consistent elevation – in order to conserve rainwater and reduce soil erosion, and worked with local communities to create shallow irrigation channels that divert streams from glaciers located about 25 kilometers away. After witnessing his progress, the regional irrigation department also started cooperating.

“The irrigation department supplies water here. Earlier, it did not make water available before June. I worked on it and supplemented their efforts. I also worked on the Kuhls, so we managed to get water supply in the months of April and May. Once we made it possible, the irrigation department also cooperated and ensured regular water supply here,” Negi told Down to Earth.

But water was just one of the challenges posed by the cold deserts. The sandy soil lacked the nutrients to sustain the crops Negi wanted to plant, so he started a farm of about 300 Chigu goats and mixed their manure with earthworms to effectively double the nitrogen content of the land. That was further boosted by the hectares of clover he planted around the oasis, which decompose regularly as new plants take their place.

The clover buffer also fixed the hare problem Negi was confronted with initially. The rodents would come to feast on the tasty plants, so the farmer planted clover of the leguminous pea family around the more valuable crops. Because the hares love clovers, they don’t bother with the other plants.

When he first began his work in Himachal Pradesh, A. D. Negi spent all of his money on testing different combinations of local farming techniques with more scientific methods of cultivation. It was a laborious process, but over time, the mortality rate of the plants went from around 85% to 1%.

After proving that valuable plants like kidney beans, potatoes, green peas, apples, and apricots could be grown even in the harsh desert environment, the former bureaucrat began focusing on trees, as he considered them essential for combatting climate change in the region.

“My first priority here is afforestation,” the Desert Healer said. “Robinia trees are the highest in number. They are followed by willow poplar and wild apricot trees. As far as fruit trees and other crops including green peas are concerned, I grow them just for demonstration purposes so that people can replicate them.”

With the help of just two volunteers, Anand Dhawaj Negi managed to turn a patch of over 90 hectares of cold desert into a green oasis that attracted the praise of both locals and scientists. People come from far and wide to witness this real-life miracle, some come to buy Negi’s natural fertilizer to grow their own crops, and others bring their cattle to graze on his clover, as it is considered the best fodder in the region.

Sadly, Anand Dhawaj Negi, the Desert Healer, passed away last month, at the age of 74, after suffering a stroke. He will be remembered as a local hero and his green oasis will hopefully be preserved as a reminder that nothing is impossible. Negi’s family plan to continue his work, but have asked the government to assume responsibility for the oasis and help with its preservation.

“Before he bade goodbye to us, he was planning to plant some evergreen or coniferous trees like pine and deodar,” Virender Sappa Negi told The Better India. “Now, as a family, we want to fulfill his last wishes. Also, we want the state government to take responsibility for his forest so that his work can inspire future generations.”

Anand Dhawaj Negi joins other Indian legends who dedicated their lives to reforestation, such as the Tree Man of Uttarakhan, or Aditya and Poonam Singh.

Santa María Zacatepec, Mexico: A massive 60-meter sinkhole has popped up in a farmer’s land endangering a neighboring house.

A farmer was shocked when he discovered a giant hole in their land, which, according to state governor Miguel Barbosa Huerta, is 60 meters (200 ft) wide, 20 meters (65 ft) deep, and expanding.

The crater-like hole, which seems to have appeared out of nothing, has led to locals worrying about a nearby house. The family which owns the property has, as a consequence, been evacuated. Authorities have also warned that the locals should stay away from the sinkhole as a safety measure.

Thankfully, no one was hurt, but the hole has impacted the people who have been evacuated.

Magdalena and Heriberto Sánchez, the owners of the house that had to be vacated, explained what happened in a recent interview.

Ms. Sanchez said:

“At 6 o’clock we heard thunder and we did not think this was it, and then my in-laws realised it. When I got closer, I saw that the earth sank and how the water was bubbling and I panicked.”

In another interview, Mr. Sanchez talked about the impact it has on them.

“We have nothing. We’re not from here. We have no relatives. We’re alone,” he said, adding that the hole was upsetting because they had to sacrifice a lot to built the house.

Huge sinkhole appears in Mexico threatening to swallow nearby farm pic.twitter.com/AZZrUGgVvC

— The Sun (@TheSun) June 3, 2021

An investigation into the events that led to the appearance of the sinkhole will now begin.

Experts will be analyzing the sinkhole to understand its causes and whether something of its kind could reappear somewhere else.

At this time, the giant hole can be seen with moving water at the bottom, which could mean that the sinkhole appeared naturally. Environmental secretary Beatriz Manrique has been hypothesizing what could have happened.

She said the following:

“We think that it might be a combination of two factors: the softening of the field, the whole area was being cultivated, as well as the extraction of groundwater, which softens the subsoil.”

Cases of wildlife crimes at Kasungu National Park have decreased as traditional leaders around the area have strengthened the relationship between communities and wildlife officials in the protection of wildlife.

Communities around Kasungu National Park led by Senior Chief Lukwa of the District and nine other chiefs have taken an initiative to enhance community ownership in conserving wildlife.

They have since assured stakeholders at an interface meeting comprising of journalists from various media houses, police and wildlife officials of their continued commitment to protecting wildlife in their respective areas.

The meeting was part of the demonstration day organised by the Wildlife Dog Detection unit of the Malawi Police Service and Kasungu National Park with support from the Lilongwe Wildlife Society to improve awareness on wildlife and conservation.

During the meeting, Police demonstrated how the dogs assist in detecting wildlife crimes.

Speaking after the demo day, Senior Chief Lukwa hailed the cordial working relationship that exists between the locals and park’s officials which was not there before. He said people around the Park are benefitting much from the relationship through some economic empowerment initiatives.

He also hailed Senior Group Village Headman Lunyangwa for establishing a Lunyangwa Cultural Village just outside the park.

” Let me encourage the media to write more about this cultural village as it will assist in generating more money from tourists,” Lukwa added.

Head of Environmental Education and Extension for Kasungu National Park, Matias Elisa said the relationship with the people around the park has helped in reducing cases of poaching as communities can report wildlife crimes.

“The introduction of the sniffing dogs can reduce wildlife crimes further,” Matiasi said

Kasungu National Park is one of the biggest animal reserves in the country with an area of 2316 square kilometres. The park is run by the Government of Malawi through the Department of National Parks and Wildlife.

MBC

Once called a madman and laughed at by members of his community, an Indonesian man is now being hailed as a hero after spending a quarter of a century covering 250 hectares of barren hillsides around his home with banyan and ficus trees.

The story of Sadiman, the Indonesian man who singlehandedly brought a forest back to life, began in the early 1990s, but the problem he helped fix can be traced back to the 1960s. It was then that great forest fires ravaged the forests on the southern slope of Lawu Mountain, in Central Java, turning hundreds of hectares state-owned pine forest to ash and leaving barren hills in their place. For decades dozens of villages in the Regency of Wonogiri battled draughts and famine, until an unlikely hero took it upon himself to bring back the forest and create a better life for him and his community.

Sadiman, a cattle farmer in his mid 40s, was the first to realize that it was the lack of plant life around his village that was causing draughts and made access to fresh water so difficult. Unfortunately, for a long time he was the only one to pay attention to this problem, as neither authorities or any of the locals cared to do anything about it. Worse still, people started calling him crazy for even trying to make a difference, as they considered his efforts futile.

To be fair, the idea that a single person could bring hundreds of hectares of forest back to life does sound crazy, but we’ve seen it happen in various places around the world numerous times. And Sadiman did in fact become a celebrated local hero, only it took over a decade for that to happen.

When Sadiman first started spending his own money on banyan saplings, sometimes even trading the cattle he reared for young trees, people dubbed him a “madman”. They just couldn’t understand why anyone would do something like that, and some even thought that the trees harbored spirits. But despite the opposition and constant mockery of his peers, Sadiman was relentless in his mission.

The Indonesian farmer spent every day planting banyan and ficus saplings in the barren hills around his village. He knew that these two species were very good at retaining water, and was convinced that enough plant life could put an end to the droughts. And he was right…

It’s estimated that Sadiman singlehandedly planted over 11,000 trees over 25 years, but it took about a decade for his work to bear fruit. As the thousands of sapling he planted matured, other plant-life started developing in the area, and soon sprigs started popping up where once there was just barren, sun-scotched land.

Whereas farmers in the Regency of Wonogiri were once limited to a single harvest a year, due to water shortages, the abundant water sources that Sadiman’s forest created now guarantee two, even three harvests a year.

As the rains started falling more frequently and people finally understood the purpose of the trees, Sadiman was a madman no longer, but a hero worthy of praise and celebration. He received Kalpataru, the highest award for an Indonesian citizen in preserving the environment, from the Government, and the Kick Andy Heroes award in 2016.

Over the years, the lush 25-hectare forest became known as “Hutan Sadiman” or Sadiman’s Forest, and became one of the most popular destinations for nature tourism in Indonesia. It has since inspired several other mass tree plantations in the area, and remains a symbol of what can be achieved through dedication and perseverance, even by a single person.

Sadiman’s story is very similar to that of other incredible eco-warriors we have featured in the past, people like the Satyendra Gautam Manjhi, who singlehandedly turned a wasteland into a 10,000-tree orchard, or photographer and conservationist Aditya Singh, who turned a patch of barren land into a green sanctuary for tigers. And who could forget Ma Sanxiao, a double amputee who planted over 17,000 trees?