During the year of 2022, about 450 hectares of forest cover in Liwonde and Zomba-Malosa have been destroyed due to charcoal production and encroachment.

District forestry assistant officer for Machinga, Andrew Kaitano Hamuza said they lost over three hundred (300) hectares in 2021 due to the same malpractice.

According to Hamuza, the challenge is increasing because of shortage of security officers, since the office does not have a vehicle for patrol.

Hamuza said they only have forty (40) forestry security guards to patrol twenty seven thousand (27, 000) hectares of forest cover.

An environmentalist Mathews Malata said the development will affect the country’s efforts to restore about 4.5 million hacters of forest cover by 2030, but suggests an increment of funds allocated to the forestry department starting in the next financial year to help enhance security.