By Sebastian Chipako
Caterpillar collection in Chinsali district has always presented an opportunity for the residents to make quick money for various competing household needs.
The widely consumed Caterpillars which are usually harvested between the months of October and November, draw traders from the urban towns who usually flock the rural picking hotspots to buy the commodity.
The trade usually involves money for the goods and goods such as dried fish, cooking oil, clothing and other goods for the desired Caterpillars. They are the new gold from the woods!
This season however, a number of Caterpillar ‘hot spots’ have reportedly been dry. The Caterpillars have drastically reduced with a number of annual pickers admitting that they only managed to pick small amounts only for home consumption.
While in others, there has not been any trace of the Caterpillars despite their usual habitats, the trees being leafy green.
This rather strange phenomenon has led to a number of tales among the locals explaining this unfortunate occurrence.
Some of the accounts which have an inclination to superstition are that one of the traditional leaders in Chinsali had sexual intercourse in the bush with one of the traders popularly known as ‘Abasulu’ which irked the local spirits known locally as ‘Imipashi’.
Others have attributed this to the lack of a Senior Chief at the helm to bless the picking and control burning at the time of the picking season.
There are many other hilarious tales explaining the reduced harvests from the forests and each popular picking point will have their own cultural explanation albeit far-fetched to an extent.
Emmanuel Chisanga, a regular picker from Burton Village in Mulilansolo area revealed that this year there has not been any harvest to talk about. Local people have just managed to pick enough for home consumption.
“In the past, people used to pick a lot of Caterpillars from our village, I would pick enough to fill 1 or 2 50kg sacks which I would sell and leave some for home consumption but this year there is totally nothing,” Mr. Chisanga explained.
He blames the delayed onset of the rainy season last year that did not allow the Caterpillars to get in the ground in readiness for their next form in their life cycle.
He explained that the scotching sun that characterized the period made the ground hard that most of the Caterpillars could be seen lying dead on the ground after failing to go underground.
Miriam Chanda, a trader at Chinsali town market shares a similar sentiment as she explained that usually this time of the year, markets are flooded with Caterpillars from famous Caterpillar picking areas but this year the supply is sporadic.
She reveals that she has been struggling to buy Caterpillars because there has not been many people selling and this has propelled the prices.
Another annual picker from Chewe area in Chinsali district agrees, adding that the situation is dreadful with Caterpillars reducing even when burning was done in good time.
She explains that Chewe area is one of the hot spots for picking Caterpillars in the district and attracts traders’ Abasulu’ from all over the country.
Unlike in the past, this has not been the case this year, the traders have not gone to the area because there are no Caterpillars to buy.
An expert from the Forestry Department revealed that there are a number of factors that have led to the dwindling of this precious resource.
Karen Nachinga, a Forestry Technician revealed that prominent among them are the indiscriminate cutting down of trees for agriculture purposes, late burning and the bad methods used when harvesting the Caterpillars.
Ms. Nachinga explained that these and many other human activities have caused climate change with its effects such as delayed rains, droughts and floods among others threatening food security.
She said people are not harvesting as much non-wood forest products as they used to because of cutting down of trees.
“Most farmers practice Chitemene system where they cut down trees on an area then burn the trees over the land and utilize it for a few years then abandon it for another thicket where more trees are cut down,” she explained.
She disclosed that Caterpillar pickers are their own worst enemy through some of their methods of harvesting. Instead of plucking the insects from the trees, they tend to cut down the entire tree just to get to the Caterpillars.
These infamous activities together with the cutting down of trees for Charcoal burning have swelled food insecurities caused by effects of climate change among the rural folks.
The dwindling Caterpillar population is an illustration of some direct impact of effects of climate change to local population especially those who are dependent on harvesting seasonal non-wood forest products for consumption and those employed along its value chain.
Ms. Nachinga has since urged local people to be planting trees to replenish those cut down. Some of the trees could be fruit trees and many others to help forest regeneration and increase carbon sinks.
She revealed that forest reserves have been encroached with human settlement and farming activities, striping the land of its valuable forest cover.
“A number of people have settled in forest reserves, they cultivate in there and this has led to massive deforestation in these areas,” she said.
She emphasizes the need for various stakeholders to start propagating good farming methods, planting trees for forest restoration and sustainable use of the reserved and community forests.
With more interventions and involvement being demanded during the recently held Climate Change conference dubbed ‘COP 27’ from the developed countries whose carbon emissions far exceeds the African countries, there is also need for local people to start doing something to mitigate the effects.
There is need for local people to stop hazardous farming methods, plant more trees in their areas, regulate the use of the forest reserves and utilize many other empowerment opportunities as alternative livelihood for people involved in Charcoal burning.
Efforts to curb these effects by local people who experience threats of food security first hand and other effects of climate change should be coupled with collaborative efforts by government and cooperating partners including the business community.
COP27 called for innovative ways to curb these effects and ensure adaptation. In districts such as Chinsali where effects have not spared anyone, there is need for government and cooperating partners to initiate climate change projects to directly tackle these challenges and ensure sustainability.
It is against this background that resources are needed to have various interventions such as a forest restoration programme, alternative livelihood, sustainable use of forest resources and many others as innovations being advocated in districts such as Chinsali. -NAIS
