MALAWI: Charcoal is a burning issue

From the IRIN (Integrated Regional Information Networks) this article discusses charcoal production, and a call for regulation, in Malawi

Read the full article here

BLANTYRE , 8 October 2008 (IRIN) - Faisoni Kandoje, 38, has sold charcoal for nearly two decades. Each day he sets up his stall along one of the major highways in Blantyre, Malawi's commercial hub, to provide for himself and his four children.

Charcoal production has been illegal since independence from Britain in 1966, and although the authorities turned a blind eye to the industry after Malawi's autocratic leader, Hastings Kamuzu Banda, was voted out of office in the 1994 elections, the government is once again clamping down on the practice.

"This is where my bread and butter come from; this is where I get money to pay school fees for my children," Kandoje told IRIN. "They should find better ways of controlling the unnecessary cutting down of trees in our forests, rather than looking at us as criminals."

The government recently signed an edict empowering soldiers to arrest people found producing charcoal, but usually those involved in the multimillion-dollar industry only have their charcoal and tools confiscated.

Thomas Ngozo, 45, said he would stop producing and selling charcoal when the government and money-lending institutions provided him with access to loans. "Banks only offer loans to people who are already rich. What then do they expect us to do? We have families to feed and it is this very illegal business that keeps us going," he told IRIN.

Read the full article here

The article also mentions a report released in December 2007: Charcoal - the reality: A study of charcoal consumption, trade and production in Malawi. You can read it here