We had our first meeting with head man Chikwela in Chongwe today, in Chikwela village.

Chongwe is one of the places in Zambia that has been had hit by the drought. Chongwe usually doesnt get enough rain even during a normal wet season because it is in the mountains so the climate situation is even worse here. Boreholes have dried up here, farmers crops have failed, animals have no vegetation to eat.

In our meeting today, the headman indicated all these hardships and noted the need to plant trees both for reforestation and agroforestry.

Because Chongwe is mountainous, villagers here cannot farm like everyone else of they have to get better yeilds. They need to practice sustainable and climate resilient agriculture like planting soil fertility boosting trees together with their crops. These trees also need to be able to stop soil erosion by acting as a natural hedge.

Chongwe has faced severe deforestation in the last 20 years due to charcoal burning. If you take a walk on the mountain side, all the trees are young trees. The old trees have been cut down and have not been replaced. In order to restore these trees, people in Chongwe need to plant trees at fast rate every year.

Headman Chikwela gave us the go ahead to hold meetings in his village so that we can raise awareness about climate change, reforestation and agroforestry.