1. Kevin Phillips
December 9, 2014
Bio 12
Siltation of Lake Malawi
In South Africa there exist a country about the size of Pennsylvania. This country is
poverty stricken, with most of its population earning what little income it can off the land.
Malawi is home to a relatively large lake named, Lake Malawi. The issue that this paper will try
to address is the siltation of Lake Malawi. This lake may seeminsignificant to you and you
probably have never heard of it, but did you know that this lake holds an unbelievable
percentage of the world’s fresh water fish. Africannaturalheritage.org reports that Lake Malawi
is home to a breath taking 15% of the world’s fresh water fish. That is a huge percentage to be
located in this one lake that is not well know about. In Lake Malawi, an amazingly beautiful type
of fish lives. This fish is called and African Cichlid. African Cichlid’s are the most beautiful fish
one could lay their eyes upon. They are brightly colored in a vast array of shades and colors
making them a remarkable sight to see. According to, fish-etc.com, in Lake Malawi there exists
over 1000 different species of African Cichlid. These fish are prizes of fish tanks, drawing every
passerby’s eye. They are sought after for their remarkable beauty all over the world. Who
wouldn’t want such an incredible fish to bless their surroundings and their eyes with its
magnificent bright colors? These African Cichlids are rock dwelling fish and feed primarily on
algae. African Cichlids do not possess the greatest sight amongst fish and rely upon light
penetration through the water to find algae to feed on. These Cichlids are in great danger
because of the fact they rely so heavily on being able to see. They are in danger because the
country of Malawi and its people are cutting down a lot of their forest for farms leaving the
ground exposed for the heavy rains, causing erosion. This erosion goes into Lake Malawi,
washing large amounts of dirt into its waters, this is called siltation. This dirt clouds the water of
Lake Malawi blocking the light from above to penetrate the water. With less light penetrating
into the water, the African Cichlids begin to struggle to find food. Lake Malawi is home to over a
2. 1000 different species of African Cichlid and because of the siltation, these fish will begin to
starve and die off. This is a problem that everybody should be paying attention to. Can we
Humans, as a whole, sit idly by and watch the home of a very diverse and beautiful fish, the
African Cichlid, be destroyed to the point where only few of them can survive? These fish are
remarkably beautiful and are one of the world’s great wonders, I would affect us all to lose this
type of biodiversity.
The siltation of this lake is primarily caused by the people who live in this country. Most
of its population relies on growing crops or working as farm laborers to earn money.
Ruralpovertyportal.org says that Malawi is the 160th poorest country out of “182 countries on
the Human Development Index”. Ruralpovertyportal.org also says that 90% of Malawi’s
population earns less than 2 United States dollars a day. Farmers in this region will cut down
patches of forest to allow them to plant a crop that will make them a little bit of money. These
farmers farm these areas only for a few years. While they do farm it, they use a technique
called “slash and burn” to clear their fields of weeds and trees. This “slash and burn” technique
degrades the quality of the soil to the point that it will no longer support crops, so after a few
years these farmers have to clear another area of forest for new fields, while leaving their old
field barren and robbed of nutrients, so nothing strong that holds the soil down grows in these
areas fast enough. When the heavier rains come from October until April, these barren fields
erode because nothing strong enough has grown on the land to keep the soil in place. Erosion
causes large amounts of dirt to be moved away with the rain water, and most of the rain water
in Malawi runs into Lake Malawi causing the lake to become more and more siltated as the
years go on. So to fix the siltation problem we must address the poverty in Malawi and the
harmful farming practices used in Malawi.
The Government of Malawi has been trying to become food secure over the past
decades, so they have pushed its citizens to grow maize. Over the years the production of food
products increased. Usaid.gov and the government of Malawi have been working separately to
try to get the people of Malawi to adopt a type of agriculture called conservation agriculture.
3. Conservation agriculture is a type of farming using irrigation systems and fertilizer, to boost
crop yields and preserve the quality of the soil. There seems to be no push away from
agriculture with the FAO and the UN pushing African countries such as Malawi to grow more
crops, but on less land using irrigation systems, fertilizers, and crops that are highly responsive
to fertilizers and steady water. Malawi’s government has given subsidies out to its farmers to
acquire fertilizers, because the people cannot afford to buy needed fertilizers at market value.
Voanews.com reports that over half of Malawi’s agriculture budget is spent on subsidies to
poor farmers to allow them access to fertilizers, which the use of has been given credit for their
increase in food supplies. The Irrigation Act of 2001 passed in Malawi was the beginning of
bring poor farming families irrigation water, but many poor families still rely on the rain to
water their crops.
Malawi has a lot of problems, they have food shortages every year, their citizens are
very poor and do what they must. They have noticed that the fish population in Lake Malawi is
declining and have identified the source as siltation, which is caused by poor soil management.
Malawi is trying to provide to its citizens the means to maintain the soil while still increasing
crop yields to feed its population. Groups like rippleafrica have been talking with communities
to expand Malawi’s source of income to include things such as ecotourism. Preserving the
forest would be the best way to keep silt out of Lake Malawi, allowing the African Cichlid and its
many species to continue to feed, so future generations can experience its great beauty
through their own eyes. Malawi is in a tough spot, but have recognized it needs to keep the
lake healthy to provide a source of food to it’s population, fish. It has through the help of
groups and organizations such as; the UN, the FAO, Usaid, and smaller groups like rippleafrica,
have identified its need for producing crops in a way where soil erosion is kept to a minimum
because it relies just as much on the fish out of the lake as it depends on its crops. Malawi may
not be progressing as fast as I would like, but at least they’re trying.
