Malawi was not picturesque enough for the anonymous European settler suspected of importing water hyacinth a century ago. Now the legacy of that decision is all too clear as power cuts ravage the economy.
As mats of weed flow down the Shire River, Malawi's electricity stops, crippling industry and costing the country hundreds of thousands of US dollars a day.
Stretched in bunches more than 150km upstream from the Nkula hydroelectric station was one such culprit, floating vegetation never meant for Africa. It is not hyacinth, but a highly invasive plant spawned by the battle against the hyacinth.
"The vegetation is getting worse. It's blocked the whole barrage," said Wales Kalombola, a technician from the Electricity Supply Corporation.
He stood on a dam in Liwonde, known locally as a barrage, which regulates the river for the Nkula plant. But the weeds block the flow. Every day a crane hauls out tonnes of the gunk, and four trucks shuttle it to a site for burning. A second crane is due this month, said Kalombola, as are a further six trucks.
The authorities are considering buying a floating bulldozer and harvester from Aquarius Systems, a US firm that battles the weeds.
"They're struggling. It's coming down river faster than they can remove it," said Jane Dauffenbach, the firm's president.
Disruptions of hydroelectric power, which account for most of Malawi's 355MW, cost US$335 million a year, one-third of GDP, says the energy ministry.
Soil erosion and silt clog the rivers, as does hyacinth -- a bitter twist because for a time the evil weed seemed vanquished.
The floating mass that can double in size in a fortnight proliferated across the Shire until the mid-1990s. Blocking sunlight and sucking oxygen and nitrogen from the water, the plant increased acidity and damaged algae and plankton.
Unchecked it would have been an ecological disaster for Lake Malawi, the third biggest in Africa. Fishing villages with no alternative source of income faced ruin.
"In some areas 60 percent of the beach was no longer accessible," said Alexander Bulirani, deputy director of fisheries.
"And crocodiles hide in the hyacinth, so it wasn't safe for women to collect water," Bulirani said.
The weed came from Brazil and so, with help from Britain's department for international development, did its nemesis: Neochetina aerchornae and Neochetina bruchi, two beetles that eat only hyacinth. Some 500,000 bugs were released.
The hyacinth stood no chance, but Malawi has found a malign side to the weevils -- feeding on the decaying hyacinth leaves and branches has come a new breed of hippo grass and papyrus, more aggressive than traditional vegetation, said Patrick Phiri, a district fisheries officer in Mangochi.
"Just as we were winning the battle against hyacinth we realized this problem of secondary growth," he said.
US President Donald Trump on Friday said Washington was “locked and loaded” to respond if Iran killed protesters, prompting Tehran to warn that intervention would destabilize the region. Protesters and security forces on Thursday clashed in several Iranian cities, with six people reported killed, the first deaths since the unrest escalated. Shopkeepers in Tehran on Sunday last week went on strike over high prices and economic stagnation, actions that have since spread into a protest movement that has swept into other parts of the country. If Iran “violently kills peaceful protesters, which is their custom, the United States of America will come to
Auschwitz survivor Eva Schloss, the stepsister of teenage diarist Anne Frank and a tireless educator about the horrors of the Holocaust, has died. She was 96. The Anne Frank Trust UK, of which Schloss was honorary president, said she died on Saturday in London, where she lived. Britain’s King Charles III said he was “privileged and proud” to have known Schloss, who cofounded the charitable trust to help young people challenge prejudice. “The horrors that she endured as a young woman are impossible to comprehend and yet she devoted the rest of her life to overcoming hatred and prejudice, promoting kindness, courage, understanding
‘DISRESPECTFUL’: Katie Miller, the wife of Trump’s most influential adviser, drew ire by posting an image of Greenland in the colors of the US flag, captioning it ‘SOON’ US President Donald Trump on Sunday doubled down on his claim that Greenland should become part of the US, despite calls by the Danish prime minister to stop “threatening” the territory. Washington’s military intervention in Venezuela has reignited fears for Greenland, which Trump has repeatedly said he wants to annex, given its strategic location in the arctic. While aboard Air Force One en route to Washington, Trump reiterated the goal. “We need Greenland from the standpoint of national security, and Denmark is not going to be able to do it,” he said in response to a reporter’s question. “We’ll worry about Greenland in
PERILOUS JOURNEY: Over just a matter of days last month, about 1,600 Afghans who were at risk of perishing due to the cold weather were rescued in the mountains Habibullah set off from his home in western Afghanistan determined to find work in Iran, only for the 15-year-old to freeze to death while walking across the mountainous frontier. “He was forced to go, to bring food for the family,” his mother, Mah Jan, said at her mud home in Ghunjan village. “We have no food to eat, we have no clothes to wear. The house in which I live has no electricity, no water. I have no proper window, nothing to burn for heating,” she added, clutching a photograph of her son. Habibullah was one of at least 18 migrants who died
RSS