Amini Saidi, 43, grows maize, sweet potato, tomatoes and onions on a half acre piece of land along Mudi stream in Milli area outside Blantyre, Malawi’s commercial hub. Apart from growing crops, he also has goats which he rears for food, income and manure. However, he has a common problem; plastics.  Due to poor disposal habits by most Malawians, plastic waste is becoming a big problem affecting farming.

“Our crop productivity along the stream is being negatively affected as the soil is no longer fertile  because of the thin plastics waste which washes along the riverbank when it rains heavily.” he said as he was showing me some plastic waste partially buried in the ground. “this plastic waste buried in the soil makes it difficult for crops roots to penetrate thereby resulting in poor crops.”

He says over the past five years when the problem surfaced and exacerbated , his yields especially the staple crop maize have been on the decline. This he says is different from the time he was young as there were not much plastics at the time, but also people were careful not to throw plastic waste anyhow as it is these days when people are careless even with their surroundings’ saying it is such plastic waste which is being washed away by rainwater into the streams, rivers and lakes.

“It appears people care less on what happens with the plastics after use, and are dumping them just anyhow. This has resulted in the land and water bodies being degraded. We need to change our habits.” He says. 

According to Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), about 80 percent of Malawi’s 17 million people are smallholder farmers growing mainly maize and other minor crops for household consumption and income respectively. While there are already other challenges like widespread erosion, inconsistent rainfall patterns as a result of climate change and lack of adequate farm inputs like fertilizers, the issue of plastics washing along river banks and infiltrating the farmland is significantly affecting productivity of farmers like Saidi.

Malawi produces about 75,000 tonnes of plastic annually. 80 percent of this is single use plastic which cannot be recycled. This means Malawians are producing more waste per capita than other Sub-Saharan countries, creating a demand which clearly beats the capacity of current waste management systems. Rapid urbanization and changing consumer demands is driving further escalation in plastic production in Malawi.   A very small fraction of the plastic waste produced is recycled or incinerated leaving out much of it ending up in landfills where it takes up to a hundred years to decompose.

Plastic waste also produces harmful chemicals into the soil affecting groundwater which most Malawians rely for portable water through boreholes. Microplastics can also interact with soil fauna, thereby affecting health and soil functions.

Chifundo Magombo, livestock farmer from Chikwawa district in Southern Malawi says she has recently lost two goats to plastics after the pair ingested it causing the blockages in breathing passages and stomachs.

“I recently lost two goats as they ingested a plastic litter. It was painful to me considering that I had wanted to sell the goats and use the money to pay for school fees of my son who is beginning his secondary school at the beginning of next month.” She decries

Magombo says although thin plastics are banned in Malawi since 2020, there is generally nothing in terms of enforcement and lobbying by stakeholders so as to gradually reduce plastic production by manufacturers. 

“I heard that thin plastics were banned in the country. However, they are being sold openly in markets and hawkers, most of which are single use plastics. As a country, we can do better.” She adds.

Magombo also hopes sustainable alternatives to plastics carrier bags will be promoted by stakeholders advising that people can return to the old ways of going shopping with a basket which is a multiple use thing than the single use plastic which are adding up piles of trash by each passing day. 

Recently some parts of Malawi capital city, Lilongwe experienced flooding which displaced thousands of people, destroyed properties worthy millions of dollars and led to loss of lives. Environmental and sanitation experts attributed the flooding to clogged drains, sewers and waterways due to plastic litter which exacerbated the risk, frequency and severity of flooding.

“The urban flooding caused damage to infrastructure, loss of productivity as a result of disrupted work and threats to human health as people were exposed to diseases like malaria and cholera.” Says Gilbert Kalichero, a sanitation expert based in Malawi’s capital.

The plastics menace has not spared fisheries sector. Being a country with several water bodies and wetlands, loss of marine life as a result of plastic pollution will have serious consequences for fishery stocks and production. Many livelihoods are linked  to the fisheries of Lake Malawi and other floodplain wetlands. And pollution poses a major threat to the status of Lake Malawi as a UNESCO World Heritage Site with significant economic costs to the tourism industry as a loss in appearance and beauty of the freshwater lake.

Saidi thinks citizens’ action on addressing the plastic problem in Malawi can be good for the country in general and farmers like him in particular because it will go a long way in mitigating its negative impacts saying if left unattended to, the country risk to lose a lot to the plastics pointing out the likelihood of toxic chemicals which are added to plastics during manufacturing entering the human food chain and exposing people to various health challenges.

“It is high time we as citizens take a stand against plastics so as to spare ourselves hell which could come as a result of neglecting the plastics waste.” He concludes.

About the Author: Based in Malawi, Deogracias Benjamin Kalima is PlasticBusters’ ambassador for the Sub-Saharan Africa region and a Senior Journalist. He is a solutions journalism expert with 6 years experience generating content for online news sites. He is also a social science researcher with eleven years experience having worked for various research organizations including a stint with Amsterdam Institute of Social Science Research (University of Amsterdam). LinkedIn