•Women charcoal traders.
By DESMOND KATONGO –
CHARCOAL production is a rigorous process, an energy sapping undertaking often requiring physical input.
The common intricacies in the production line often involves cutting down trees, carrying or rolling logs over long distances and building of a kiln.
The physical demands that are often required in the charcoal production line can be enticing to an observer’s viewpoint let alone leave one with a conclusion that it’s a male dominated industry.
In reality, charcoal production has from time immemorial been a male dominated trade.
However, in Zuwalinyenga area in Nyimba District, Eastern Province, the charcoal production landscape is slowly changing; with new players entering the trade.
The women of Zuwalinyenga area are slowly erasing the widely held view that charcoal production is a male dominated industry.
The women are no longer relegated to lesser or lighter roles they have played for years; they are breaking barriers and are slowly taking up more and more physical tasks that previously could only be done by men.
Mabvuto Zulu, a 27 year old mother of two, is a full time charcoal producer of Zuwalinyenga area.
She has been in the charcoal business for more than four years and the trade has been at the centre of her livelihood.
“Charcoal is an important source of income for the livelihood of my family. Through this business I am able to feed and take my children to school. We have no alternative source of livelihood in this village as a result charcoal remains a common business,” she said.
Like Ms Zulu, Sylvia Mwanza a mother of five has been in the trade many years.
At 39, Banda juggles her life between charcoal production and subsistence agriculture. “Charcoal does help me support my family. When I sell a charcoal bag , the income is used to buy fertiliser for my agriculture produce,” explains Ms Banda.
Women charcoal traders like Ms Zulu and Ms Banda are just a minor synopsis of the growing number of women involved in the trade in Nyimba’s Zuwalinyenga.
At 39 years old, Ms Banda juggles her life between charcoal production and subsistence agriculture.
“Charcoal does help me support my family. When I sell charcoal; the income is used to buy fertiliser for my agriculture produce,” Ms Banda said.
Women charcoal traders like Ms Banda are just a minor synopsis of the growing number of women involved in the trade in Nyimba’s Zuwalinyenga.
It is also important to note that women involvement in charcoal trade is not a new phenomenon.
Though women have been engaged in the production line; they have generally held specific roles.
More noticeably has been their heavy presence in seemingly lighter roles such as packaging and selling whilst men have been known to dominate what initially was thought to be more demanding roles such as tree cutting, cross cutting logs and building of kilns.
Over the years, charcoal production in Zambia has grown exponentially and continues to play a significant role in the rural communities’ social economic development, although currently the methods are unsustainable.
Often blamed as a major contributor to Zambia’s 0.3 per cent annual forest loss, the largely undocumented charcoal trade nevertheless makes meaningful contributions to livelihoods and national income.
For example, the industry is thought to informally employ an estimated 500,000 individuals and is projected to contribute at least 3 percent to Zambia’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Secondly, charcoal has and continues to be a very important domestic energy source for most Zambian households.
In most urban areas where charcoal is used, demand is driven by poverty and limited availability of affordable and cleaner energy alternatives. In the city of Lusaka, about 85 percent of urban households use charcoal compared to 15 percent in rural areas, according to the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR).
On the contrary charcoal production contributes immensely to forests cover change. Zambia today has one of the highest rates of forest loss ranked approximately between 250,000 and 300,000 hectares.
Kaala Moombe, is a researcher with the Center for International Forestry Research in Zambia.
While he appreciates the swelling number of players in the trade, he also acknowledges a series of factors that have immensely contributed to growth in the trade.
Over the years there has been a growth in the demand of wood energy in Zambia exacerbated by critical energy shortages.
Droughts have led to low water levels impacting heavily on electricity generation ultimately forcing the urban population to rely on charcoal as an alternative source of energy.
“We can’t also ignore the fact that this gap in energy supply and demand has led to an increase in players in the value chain,” he said.
It is clear today that the charcoal trade has become a huge industry requiring less or no capital for those looking for easy money.
Fuelled by the yawning gap between energy supply and demand, not forgetting increasing poverty levels, charcoal trade continues to attract a swarm of players at various value chains.
Nyimba district forestry officer Charles Mchotsa has witnessed how the trade has evolved with time from being a small to a commercial trade.
“Nyimba district proximity to Lusaka has heavily contributed to the growth of the trade. Lusaka holds the biggest market for charcoal and usually local traders are finding it profitable to sell charcoal in the capital city.
A 50 kilogramme bag of charcoal fetching at 25 or 35 kwacha in Nyimba is sold at 120 and 150 kwacha in Lusaka.
The trade has grown exponentially because people are making a living from it,” he said.
As the number of women continues to grow in the trade so have their roles.
Ms Zulu admits that her role in the charcoal production line has changed with time. “I have become more and more involved in the trade.
Sometime back I would only help my husband during packaging whilst he does more physical things, but now I am able to cut logs and move the logs and package. Things have changed because there is demand for charcoal and also a need to help my husband.”
Ms Zulu’s husband, Charles Tembo acknowledges the shift in roles.
“Life is difficult today and my wife knows that we need to help each other especially in our charcoal business.
My wife does the cutting of trees sometimes especially when I am busy with other things and I also do the cooking when she is busy with other things.”
While Ms Zulu is able to go it alone even with a husband to support her, Mainala Banda a widow, appreciates the physical demands of the process and often hires men to cut trees; collect logs and build a kiln in exchange for maize, groundnuts or money.
“I am a widow who has to look after my children. I am equally in the charcoal business like other women.
However, it’s rather too difficult for me to produce charcoal, so in most cases I hire people to make a kiln for me and do the rest of the work that I can’t do.
Depending on the size of the tree, I am charged 50 kwacha per tree-which is often fair enough for me because I am able to make enough profit when I sale the finished product.”
The increasing number of women in the trade is often appreciated at the selling stage.
Zambia’s capital Lusaka provides one of the biggest markets for charcoal coming from Southern, Eastern, Copperbelt and Central part of the country.
Janet Chileshe, is a new charcoal trader and she is already
appreciating the fortunes that comes with the trade.
“I have worked as restaurant waitress; I have sold vegetables before but I can honestly tell you that I am making more money from charcoal than from my previous sources of income,” she said.
The growth in the trade and the often attractive profits one can reap from charcoal has also altered the old perception that city women usually had over the trade.
There was that common notion that charcoal is a business for a certain class of women, especially lowly graded ones in society often due to the fact that you get dirty in the process of packaging or even transporting the bags.
“But this is not the case anymore; I am in this business because I am making money and earning a good living and there are many women doing
the same,” she said.
The Zambian forest department also recognizes the growing number of women in the charcoal value chain. There has definitely been an influx of women in charcoal trade.
Though men still maintain a huge presence in the production phase, we are slowly seeing a growing number of women taking part in the production line. It is also evident when it comes to the number of people who come to get licences.
“For example, in Nyimba district, in a month we have maybe 30 people looking for licences and out of these maybe 10 will be men and the rest are women,” Mr Mchotsa said.
For the Zambian forest department, the growth in the number of players in the trade is an eyesore.
The current Zambian forestry act states that a person engaging in charcoal production needs a production licence to be given in 14 days, within which they are to cut trees and produce charcoal.
They also need a conveyance licence to transport the charcoal.
However, people decide not to follow the rules and opt to enter the trade illegally.
“There are very few people complying with the rules.
As a department we also face our own challenges such as staffing. You can be four officers in one big district making it difficult to catch illegal traders,” he said.
Charcoal trade in Zambia has continued to grow at a very fast rate.
The continued increase in the number of key players along the value chain especially women both in rural and urban areas is a testament enough that the trade remains one of the most profitable ventures sustaining both rural and urban livelihoods.
It is also important to note that though this trade has continued to play a salient role in the countries social economic development, the charcoal industry is yet to be formally identified and utilised as potentially one of the biggest sectors that could be of huge significance to Zambia’s revenue base.
(The author is a Zambian journalist based in Lusaka. His career stretches from sports, environment, and health-related reporting. He has also spent part of his career as a communications officer for the Centre for International Forestry Research)
