The Dzalanyama Forest Reserve

The generally fertile soils of Lilongwe Plain which covers Dedza, Lilongwe and Mchinji districts are intensively cultivated and the area is densely populated for an essentially agricultural community (population density ranging from 260 to 503- Atlas for schools 2012). People in this area rely on rain fed and irrigation agriculture and this widespread industry would be impossible without water regulated by Dzalanyama Forest Reserve. Maize is grown as the main food crop while tobacco and groundnuts are grown as cash crops in most parts of the area. The natural vegetation has therefore been extensively modified throughout the area due to heavy agricultural activities. Trees are commonly cut for tobacco curing, poles/stakes for construction of tobacco sheds and for drying, firewood for brick burning, household energy and expansion of agricultural fields. The most preffered firewood and poles are those from native trees due to their high calorific value and strength to hold heavy roofs.

Charcoal is obtained by the destructive distillation of wood by burning it in a limited quantity of oxygen. With more oxygen the charcoal gets reduced to ash. The distillate consists of aceton, methyl alcohol and pyroligeneous acid and combustible gases such as carbon monoxide and methane are produced during burning. The main method of the illegal charcoal production in Dzalanyama is through cheap traditional kiln of earth-mound type. They are easily made by the charcoal burners but they are inefficient and wasteful. The charcoal yield is as low as 17 to 22 percent by weight of wood ( approximately 5 tonnes of wood to 1 tonne of charcoal) leading to high wastage of wood. All the chemical by- products literary go up in the smoke contributing to air pollution and this is evidenced by the plumes of smoke which curl skyward. The calorific value and the burning efficiency of charcoal depends on the density and cellular structure of the wood from which it is made. Dense and heavy woods gene

Major obstacles to tree survival in Malawi include indiscriminate forest resource extraction which is largely attributed to heavy woodfuel utilisation for firewood and charcoal production, timber requirement, agricultural industry, infrastructure development and uncontrolled bush fires. Wood and charcoal are the most preferred cooking and heating fuels in Malawi even in the poorer parts of the cities and the demand is huge. It is estimated that charcoal consumption is  twice what the nation's woodland can sustain without further deforestation. Indeed loggers illegally clear 250,000 ha of forest each year to meet the demand for charcoal and firewood, a deforestation rate of 2.8%(Forest policy 2016) resulting in further reduction of forest per capita which is already below desired minimum. However expected increase in population and residential construction indicates that wood market may continue to grow. Most of the hills have been shaved of their leafy canopies of trees, leaving