LocationsRural Markets Get Power to Defy Darkness
October 21, 2024
Janet Nkagula selling tomatoes after sunset at Sakata Market, one of the 7 trading centres where UNDP provided solar lighting with funding from Japan through the Japanese Supplementary BudgetB
It is Friday, a busy day for traders and buyers at Sakata Market in Zomba District.
From sunrise to sunset, the rural market buzzes with traders from the surrounding villages and mobile vendors from as far as Zomba City, about 15km away.
When the sun disappears behind Sakata Hill in the western horizon, solar lights flicker on and buyers pour in to grab some basics while returning home. Others hang around the marketplace once eclipsed by darkness to unwind from the day’s chores.
The movement keeps Jennifer Nkagula in business beyond dusk.
The vegetable seller is going nowhere. She is among men and women who sell their goods until 8pm at the market where sunset automatically switches five solar lights installed by UNDP with funding from the Japanese Government .
Around 7pm, the mother of five is seen selling vegetables under the solar-powered lights that help the small-scale traders make money beyond nightfall.
“With free lighting, I have no excuse to rush home with a basket full of perishable goods on my head,” says Nkagula, leaning against a light pole. “It makes no business sense for me to return to my family with empty pockets or for my children to go to sleep hungry while people who want vegetables return home empty-handed.”
Nkagula provides for her family as hunger worsens across southern Malawi. In the 2023/24 rainy season, her maize crop wilted amid drought induced by the El Nino weather pattern in southern Africa.
This has left her and about 5 million people in Malawi requiring urgent food aid.
In March, President Lazarus Chakwera declared a state of disaster over 23 of Malawi’s 28 districts. They include Zomba where the rainy season ended prematurely in February, leaving tasseling maize, the staple crop, scorched by dry spells.
The tragedy struck barely a year after Cyclone Freddy dumped devastating rainstorms, flooding and landslides that affected more than 2.2 million people in the country’s southern Region.
The world’s longest-running cyclone ripped crops and homes in Sakata, leaving Nkagula homeless.
Such disasters that have become more frequent and devastating with climate change ramp up her push for diverse income sources.
Janet Nkagula selling tomatoes at Sakata Market where UNDP installed solar lighting with funding from Japan through JSB
“With solar lighting, I sell vegetables till late to escape hunger and poverty as rain becomes unpredictable. I use the money to buy daily food and other basic needs for my family,” says Nkagula.
When Cyclone Freddy blew off the grass thatch of her home in March 2023, she planted 32 trees around her house to slow strong winds.
“I want a decent house with iron sheets, but that will take a lot of hard work, but I bought the tree seedlings to protect what I have from frequent disasters,” she says.
Over a dozen men and women sell their goods in the glow of solar lights installed under the Transforming of Agriculture through Building Resilience and Harnessing Green Opportunities (TARGO) project funded by the Government of Japan through UNDP. Zomba District Council installed solar lighting in seven markets where small-scale traders used to close shop by sunset.
The clean energy has given the businesses community more hours to sell their goods in a safe setting as many buyers pour in at dusk.
UNDP also provided solar lighting for off-grid markets in Nkhotakota District.
Most rural markets in Malawi are deserted by twilight due to low access to electricity.
According to the 2018 census, just about 12 percent of the households nationwide are connected to the national grid. However, the findings show that only four percent of the country’s rural majority have access to grid power.
“Solar lighting enables the small businesses to continue operating after sunset without pushing the traders to divert their meagre profit to buying batteries. As such, they use the savings to grow their businesses and save a little to better respond to the loss and damage caused by climate shocks, including food insecurity,” says Zomba District Environmental Officer Naomi Kachifundu.
Solar energy is accelerating rural electrification in the national push for the UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 7 which calls for affordable, clean, reliable and sustainable energy for all”
“Everything we sell after 5pm means an extra income. We wouldn’t have made it if we were chasing the sun, says Ellena Kamwana, 42, who sells fish and tomatoes next to Nkagula’s spot at Sakata.
To trade beyond 5pm, the mother of four used to buy three batteries for her torch.
She recounts: “I used to make about K7 000 on a good day when we were closing shop by 5pm, but now I make k15 000 to 20 000,”
“Previously, I was making less money because I was going home early . To earn a little more, I had to buy torch batteries at K300 each. With solar lighting, I save about K1 000 every week for buying soap and other small needs for my family.”
The fish seller belongs to two women’s groups, where she saves part of her earnings and gets zero-interest loans when needed most.
“I save K2000 every week with each group so that I can borrow freely to buy food or boost my business when necessary. I’m saving for tough times, including the worsening hunger,” she says.
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