KICKSTART PROMOTES MONEYMAKER PUMP TO EASE IRRIGATION FARMING

By HAPPY MULOLANI

Despite Zambia being endowed with abundant arable land, the majority of farmers still grapple to irrigate their crops as they are still dependent on rainfed agriculture. This situation has provided an opportunity for the country to promote irrigation farming in order to increase production and incomes of smallholder farmers which is in tandem with the Eighth National Development Plan (8NDP).

Government’s approach has been to closely work with the private sector to ensure smallholder farmers transition from rainfed agriculture to irrigation farming through accessing affordable technologies. This approach has given impetus to the private sector such as KickStart to promote affordable technologies to smallholders.  

Kick Start-International is a non-profit Social Enterprise which aims at enabling millions of smallholder farmers in Africa to earn a high income through promoting low-cost irrigation pumps across Sub-Sahara Africa since 2000.

The organisation started its operations in Kenya and rolled out to 17 countries in Africa. According to the KickStart Fact Sheet, “KickStart has sold over 370,000 low-cost, moneymaker branded, manual irrigation pumps, and partnered with hundreds of NGOs and UN agencies, private sector companies, importers and retailers to reach and educate farmers, and promote the uptake of smallholder irrigation.”

Speaking at the official launch of KickStart International Money Maker Irrigation Starter Pump, Minister of Agriculture Reuben Mtolo expressed concern that despite Zambia’s irrigation being estimated to be around 3million hectares of land, less than 10 percent is utilized by the agriculture sector.

Mr Mtolo said that these statistics are worrisome and calls for improvement. Therefore, the active participation of the private sector in ensuring smallholder farmers have access to affordable irrigation pumps is a priority.

Mr Mtolo was optimistic that the irrigation starter pump is a “practical example of the private sector’s capacity to address the challenges smallholder farmers have been experiencing in Zambia.”

He was overjoyed that Zambia was among the countries to embrace the technology.

“I am delighted that Zambia has become the fifth country to launch this product in the region. We encourage all stakeholders to promote the use of this [technology] and other irrigation technologies amongst our smallholders in the country,” Mr Mtolo said.

What is required by all stakeholders is to support this technology in order to increase the cultivation of off-season commodities and enhance income generation through promotion of all year production at small scale level.

Working with smallholder farmers in the provision of affordable pump technologies has enabled KickStart to draw vital lessons. These lessons are a stepping stone to fine tune interventions being offered.

KickStart President and Chief Operating Officer Peter Juma, explained that there was need to forge partnerships which will help in boosting the irrigation agenda.

Mr Juma was cognizant of the undeveloped value chains, access to capital, input distribution and road-network, as some of the impediments to the development process of irrigation.

Amid these challenges, there have been some positive impacts among farmers. For instance, Leonard Nsabata, a farmer in Lufwanyama on the Copperbelt province, used buckets to water his gardens of tomatoes which was really a burden as the area covered was very small. This meant his production capacity was just for home consumption. However, when he got introduced to the KickStart Money Maker pumps, he has been able to increase his area under cultivation as he can irrigate larger portions of his fields.

From the proceeds, “I have been able to build an eight bedroomed self-contained house, purchase a tractor and send my children to school,” Mr Nsabata said.

Peter Zulu, a farmer of Kasenengwa district of Eastern province, used buckets to water his tomato fields previously. However, in 2016, he obtained a loan from Vision Fund and purchased a pump and also underwent training. That became a turning point in his life as the production capacities improved tremendously.

“Between 2018 -2020, I bought four cars, a shop and will soon sponsor my children for further studies to college,” Mr Zulu said.

He said currently a box of tomato fetches K300 and he makes K35,000 per week. Mr Zulu grows 5,000 plants of tomato. He intends to increase to 7,000 plants after realizing the good profit margins.

Mary Nga’ndu, a female farmer in Kasenengwa, recalls how she began farming six years ago with her grandchildren. She would use buckets to water her gardens with the help of the grandchildren.

“It was a struggle to water my garden using buckets but ever since I got a pump through KickStart, I now grow for both consumption and for sale,” Ms Nga’ndu said.

From the profits earned, Ms Nga’ndu has managed to buy three goats, a bicycle and is now able to comfortably pay school fees for the children.

From the foregoing farmer experiences with KickStart treadle pump technology, farmers ought to adopt this technology in order to increase their production capacities and incomes. It is pacifying that the private sector has made drastic strides to work with government in identifying opportunities and also ensuring that smallholder farmers have access to affordable technologies.

What is required now is for Government and partners need to come up with a comprehensive system assessment to deal with eminent issues affecting the development of the irrigation agenda, as this will better the agriculture sector.

LIMA RADIO HITS AIRWAVES

By HAPPY MULOLANI

Radio is highly considered as an important tool to reach out to masses. On this basis, the Ministry of Agriculture through its information wing the National Agricultural Information Services (NAIS) has over years been utilizing various radio stations to disseminate agriculture, technical information and innovations to farmers dotted across the 10 provinces of Zambia.

NAIS was birthed in 1966 as Rural Information Services under the Ministry of Agriculture. This was upon the realization that not all areas had extension staff to service farming communities in their agriculture practices. As a result, NAIS would complement the extension services by transmitting agriculture radio programmes through the National Broadcaster, Zambia National Broadcasting Services (ZNBC) in the seven languages which include; English, Luvale, Kaonde, Lozi, Bemba, Nyanja and Tonga. 

While these programmes reached farmers in far flung areas and enriched their farming enterprises, it came at a cost to the Ministry of Agriculture. With the passage of time, it became very unsustainable for the Ministry to meet the operational costs to broadcast these informative programmes. This presented an opportunity to the Ministry to think of a sustainable way of ensuring farmers were still kept abreast with up-to-date information on agriculture value chains.

In an effort to strengthen the unit’s mandate of disseminating timely agriculture and technical information to the farming communities countrywide, NAIS has set-up its own radio station called Lima Radio 106.9FM in a bid to promote increased production, nutrition and increased income. Ideally, radio is deemed to be one of the most accessible medium to reach out to many people as it is affordable and also portable. Thus, the Ministry of Agriculture envisions to complement its already burdened extension service to reach out to farmers with technical and agriculture information meant to empower them.

Ministry of Agriculture Permanent Secretary Green Mbozi underscores the importance of radio and its relevance to the respective farming community in the country.

Mr Mbozi explains that radio is a powerful tool and is useful to empower farmers with key useful information to enhance various agriculture value chains.

He says there is need for the Ministry of Agriculture to augment radio with farmers as a way of complementing extension services. The liberalisation of the airwaves in the early 2000s has not only leveraged the increased number of radio stations but is also a milestone for the Ministry of Agriculture to achieve its mandate.

“The Ministry of Agriculture has about 2,000 established posts for extension officers against over 3,000 farmers making it difficult to provide adequate extension service. This is where radio plays a key role in informing the farmers on agriculture, technical and latest technologies,” Mr Mbozi said.

He appreciates its effectiveness in reaching out to farmers in rural areas who are in dire need of agriculture and technical information.

National Agricultural Information Services Assistant Director Stubbs Malambo explained that the newly established radio station will strengthen the operations of the unit as radio has been a very important source of information for farmers in past years until now.

“It has also been the main channel and extension tool farmers have relied on as their source of credible information on agriculture technologies and other vital information they need to upscale their production capacities,” Mr Malambo said.

He further explained that the unit has adequate human resource to provide the much needed information to the farmers at a reduced cost.

Over the years, it has been quite painful for the unit to rely on other radio stations with cost implications. This has negatively impacted on the smooth delivery of information meant to keep farmers abreast with latest innovations and technical information.

Mr Malambo has made a passionate appeal to partners to come on board to support this initiative.

“We have been supported with some transmitters by partners such as Musika, GIZ and Seedco. We still have a shortfall of six transmitters to be mounted in six provinces,” Mr Malambo disclosed.

The transmitters have been mounted in Lusaka, Eastern, Central and Southern provinces. While the other six provinces need transmitters to be procured as soon as possible.

He stated that a lot of partners have been working with NAIS and called for their continued support, noting that partners should consider using the radio station to advertise their services.

NAIS Senior Radio Producer Sombo Masumba revealed that Lima Radio 106.9 FM is a unique radio station, as it is the first of its kind to provide purely agriculture content to farmers in far flung areas.

Ms Masumba clarified that once the radio station rolls out countrywide, it will act as a buffer to areas which are not visited regularly by extension officers.

The radio station is operating within the confines of Lusaka and awaits issuance of an expanded license by the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA). This will necessitate information to be disseminated to farmers in far flung areas countrywide.

This initiative is envisaged that it will bring positive changes among the farmers and stakeholders. 

CONSORTIUM PROGRESSES TOWARDS DEVELOPMENT OF AGROECOLOGY STRATEGY

                                            Climate Change Consortium Players

By HAPPY MULOLANI

The numerous effects of climate change such as flash floods, excessive heat and heavy rainfall among other effects remain a source of concern in Zambia. To overcome these effects, the Consortium of Climate Change campaigners has intensified its efforts in formulating an agroecology strategy which will address particular concerns affecting production and productivity.

The strategy is expected to champion the needs of the consortium to ensure that its work is enriched through the Agricultural Consultative Forum (ACF) which has provided a platform to ensure that the strategy speaks to specific needs and the Ministry of Agriculture provides its facilitational role.

The consortium has been in existence since 2018. It is mandated to advocate and lobby for the transformation of food systems in Zambia by promoting agroecology. This is to ensure the promotion of biodiversity and adaption, resilience and improving livelihoods.

PELUM Zambia Country Coordinator Wamunyima Muketoi, explains that it becomes easier to mobilise a critical mass through the Agriculture policy which runs for the next five years.

Mr Muketoi says that for the consortium to be effective, they need to work on mapping of key stakeholders in climate change related work to avoid duplication of the same work.

Consultant Fatima Nkhuwa concurs that what needs to be taken into account is the international organisations and progressive partners who have worked in pushing the agenda for agroecology to influence appropriate actions to deal with climate change. The Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) synergy is therefore critical to look at whose located in a specific context, and providing particular interventions, and who the influencers are.

“If there is a Civil Society Organisation doing specific work, it’s imperative to push the influencer to enable movement in tackling the climate change agenda in the various spheres,” Consultant Fatima Nkhuwa explains.

This is amid the realization that there are a number of organisations working around various climate change interventions but working in silos. This means what is required is once key players are identified and come together, it will be easier to deal with addressing identified policy gaps in an organised manner.

Ms Nkhuwa explains that adopting a multisectoral approach of all key players will deal with issues to climate change with one voice. This strategy needs to speak to the national agenda such as productivity, food security, increase income and food security.

Clearly, the consortium’s clusters are already working on three critical clusters. These include the agriculture cluster which will deal with reviewing agriculture policies, climate and environment cluster will look at climate related policies and public resource management cluster will look at public resources. The last cluster is the movement building cluster which is expected to speak with one voice on pertinent climate change issues.

These identified clusters are expected to inform the agroecology strategy which will feed into the national agriculture agenda at the national level.

Adopting this approach with key players will not only enhance their momentum but will also improve the policy gaps and opportunities within the agroecology sphere.

What is key is to clearly understand agroecology and its necessary elements such as seed, soil, water and inputs which will contribute to enrich the soils and also produce healthy foods.

 A farmer in Lusaka West, Robert Chimango who has seriously taken up sustainable agriculture practices, said that there is need for the consortium to embark on a pragmatic approach in reforming some of the policies and also speed up the process of coming up with an agroecology strategy.

Admittedly, a lot of research has been conducted over the years around agroecology but needs a systematic way of disseminating this information to empower farmers and communities. This calls for the active involvement and participation of the media to provide key information on the critical aspects of agroecology through an integrated mass media.

PELUM Zambia Communications Officer Rebecca Mwila, explains that the media is a powerful effect and should be in the forefront of propagating the media’s role of advocacy.

“A lot of effort has to be put in packaging appropriate climate change information in order to raise awareness,” Ms Mwila said.

It is clear that the type of agriculture being experienced is industrial agriculture which some people have advocated for such as clearing the land. This practice of clearing the land has led to deforestation and other disastrous effects on the soil.

The climate change reality shows that there is lack of water and other causes which are so enormous, among them the causes of the greenhouse emissions which produces greenhouse gases is still a mission to accomplish.

This situation presents a gloomy picture which calls for the consortium’s interventions to promote the adoption of agriculture practices such as agroecology and its numerous advantages, as it cares for the earth and preserves the biodiversity through the usage of local available resources and promotes integration.

CLIMATE ACTIONS THROUGH GENDERED LENS: LOSS AND DAMAGE

By HAPPY MULOLANI

JUDITH Kapenda wakes up early in the morning to work in her fields in preparation for the forthcoming rainy season which is expected to begin as per agriculture calendar. Sadly, there seems to be no sign that the heavens will open up and pour out the much needed rains. Instead, high temperatures are witnessed causing excessive heat which cannot allow germination of seeds.

Ms Kapenda’s 20 acre farm is located in Nkolemfumu farming area in Kasama, Northern province. It is in a high rainfall area with an average of 1,200mm of rainfall annually.

 “My plan is to cultivate two hectares of maize and two hectares of soya beans,” Ms Kapenda said.

Her intention is to hoard 40 percent of the maize which she anticipates to harvest, while sale the other 60 percent to earn an income. She plans to sell all the soya bean following the lucrative market the previous farming season.

When the rains finally pour out, she quickly plants all the four hectares already prepared as planned. After the rains which looked seemingly promising to last longer as is usually the case, a dry spell is experienced. The two hectares of maize crop wilts due to the excessive heat.

However, Ms Kapenda remains hopeful. When the rains pour out again in the third week, she replants and the crop stand is a marvel as the rains are now consistently pouring out.

At first, the constant pouring out of rains appeared to be good for the sound growth of crops. Ironically, it turns out to be heavy rains for a considerable period and causes 70 percent loss and damage to the crops.

“Initially, my plan was to sale and hoard some of the maize for household food security while, the other harvest I will sale off to earn an income to sustain her family and also re-invest in the other enterprises I desire to pursue,” Ms Kapenda said.

Ms Kapenda’s predicament is a reflection of many women farmers who often conform to the advised agriculture calendar - which entails land preparation and cultivation of fields in advance and early planting by mid-November.  But, in recent years, loss and damage has been one of the effects of climate change which has led to women farmers losing out on their expected yields leading to most households being food insecure.

This is against the backdrop that Zambia is particularly vulnerable to climate shocks such as floods and droughts exacerbated by the present climate crisis, although the country only contributes 0.19 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. It is also evident that majority of the population depend on rainfed agriculture for its livelihood, unfortunately most of its production is severely affected by increasing temperatures and precipitation patterns.

A research conducted by ActionAid Zambia titled “Zambia: Women and Girls’ Confronting climate change loss and damage” indicates that the foregoing climate shocks in relation to their effect on women requires climate actions which need to address the “limits of adaptation and include specific interventions that address loss and damage from a women’s human rights perspective.”

The study reveals that women’s experience towards loss and damage hinges on their household food security being threatened by climate change as agriculture is their primary source of livelihood. This is compounded by the destruction of their crops as it directly has consequences on their lives since most of them have not recovered from their loss.

ActionAid Zambia, Climate Officer Rebecca Mwambazi, explains that women often find alternative means of survival as they migrate from drought prone areas to other towns/communities in pursuit of income generating activities to sustain their families.

Ms Mwambazi reveals that women find themselves in desperate times as climate change poses a risk to their reproductive health given their biological make up. They are also faced with gender based violence as they traverse distant areas in search of food and water.

To overcome some of the barriers women encounter due to climate change, a number of women centred solutions have been facilitated by encouraging women participation in dialogues and capacity building on conservation farming and energy saving cooking stoves. Zambia Alliance of Women, Agents of Change Foundation and Non-Governmental Gender Organisations Coordinating Council are among the organisations in the forefront in facilitating these climate initiatives.

Despite strides made including policies meant to help women respond to climate change, traditions, in particular patriarchy continues to limit women’s access to wealth ownership. For instance, traditional laws and customs tend to prevent women from owning land. Property is often listed as the husbands’ property because a man is still given first priority. Women are also under-represented in leadership structures which undermines their voices.

These patriarchal tendencies tend to exclude women in climate change interventions because they find it difficult to access relevant information on climate change.

“Women find it harder to access relevant information about climate change and its effects due to their lack of access to education…illiteracy among women is high in Zambia as a result of patriarchal preference to educate boys over girls,” Ms Mwambazi explains.

Another major setback hinges on women’s lack of access to climate finance. To achieve positive results in any climate change mitigation and adaptation plans requires adequate financing to raise awareness and advocate for feasible climate actions. Access to funds through local solutions such as Constituency Development Funds (CDF) needs to be eased for them to implement their activities without any financial hurdles.

Clearly, to address climate crisis in relation to women, there is need to address the inherent structural inequalities and also ensure women are frontliners in coming up with climate actions such as creating dialogue spaces and conversations to inform climate policy and advocacy at local, national and international levels. This approach will help address climate crisis and assess how loss and damage can be amicably resolved in order to promote women’s human right.

The panacea to climate change needs to ensure broad policy recommendations of all climate actions. The suggested climate actions need to be minimized, be gender responsive and gender transformative given that over 60 percent of the majority food producers in Zambia are women. Such recommendations should also be informed by women leaders’ lived experiences. 

UNZA VALIDATES ITS CURRICULUM REVIEW

 By HAPPY MULOLANI

ETABLISHED in 1965, the University of Zambia is undeniably the oldest University in Zambia. Currently, it is ranked sixth in Africa, which is a remarkable achievement in the academic arena. The University continues to make drastic strides in achieving academic excellence as one of the schools embarked on reviewing its curriculum to meet the industry demands.

One of the University’s schools, School of Agricultural Sciences began the process of curriculum review in 2010, with the support of MUSIKA, whose aim is to making agricultural markets work for smallholder farmers in rural areas. The idea of this curriculum review is to ensure they respond to the market demands.

The school constituted a team of experts which includes; school staff, industry players, stakeholders and agro players. This was to ensure that a comprehensive review of the curriculum is conducted to meet the gaps encountered over the years. Suffice to state that the last curriculum review was conducted in 2010.

The objective of reviewing the curriculum is based on the fact that courses are tailor made to respond to the market demands and enhance agriculture entrepreneurship. The other aim is to ensure that this effort translates into strengthening the practical components of the current curriculum.

Given this background, experts in the School of Agricultural Sciences from the University of Zambia, stakeholders and other industry players in the agriculture sector convened at Pamodzi hotel in Lusaka recently to validate the curriculum review, a journey they began last year.

Dean of School of Agricultural Sciences, Benson Chishala emphasized that the aim of the curriculum review was to work with partners in bringing positive changes in meeting the industry demands.

Dr Chishala explained that the school was forging partnerships with the farming community, agro related industries, Zambezi Ranching and other big corporations who are in the actual production until the level of processing.

 “We seek to bring partners into curriculum review that they know changes we want to have and this should speak to their concerns. This is key and we want to incorporate their views in the curriculum,” said Dr Chishala.

He also acknowledged the enormous efforts conducted by the team of experts, which was led by Dr Benson Mwenya, with representation from five departments across the school.

“The participation in the review of the curriculum was conducted by staff in the School of Agricultural Sciences including the Assistant Dean,” Dr Chishala said.

He also paid gratitude to MUSIKA for the resources and involvement in the whole process which is aimed at improving the welfare of the agriculture sector.

Vice Chancellor Annie Sikwibele explained that curriculum review was a very important process in response to its relevance to industry demands.

“Curriculum reviews are supposed to be conducted every five years. It’s important to have a curriculum which effectively responds to the needs of the society,” Professor Sikwibele said.

He indicated that the core business of the University is to offer teaching and promote excellence and committment in training graduates as well as perform challenging tasks in the ever changing economy, which necessitates promoting curriculum change in all schools.

Professor Sikwibele commended the school for its initiative which was in line with the strategic plan. He stressed that schools and units must identify with beneficial partners.

Professor Sikwibele encouraged all other schools to emulate the School of Agricultural Sciences efforts, noting that this process will ensure graduates are end users and also have opinions in order to concretise its focus of review.

“Emphasis on practical component and incorporation of entrepreneurial courses in the curriculum, will assure quality graduates are churned out. When graduates are equipped with business skills, they can start up their own enterprises and avoid being dependent on looking for employment…what we need is graduates who will use skills gained and also employ others. This will help address the current employment challenges in the country,” Prof Sikwibele said.

Professor Borniface Namangala was speaking on behalf of UNZA Vice Chancellor, Annie Sikwibele.

MUSIKA Research Officer, Mwimbu Ngoma appreciated the school’s determination in strengthening the curriculum review by bringing entrepreneurship in the programmes offered, as it directly addresses the business market system in the industry.

Mr Ngoma congratulated UNZA for its tireless efforts, particularly through the curriculum review process and incorporating business focused courses, as this conforms to MUSIKA’s outputs.

“One of the deliverables of MUSIKA is staff handling market systems. As we contribute towards curriculum reform, it will bring in key business components, even as students are taught farming as a business,” Mr Ngoma explained.

One of the expert team member, Hendrick Chalwe explained that during the curriculum review, some concerns raised where the school was churning out graduates who were not well prepared to handle challenges in the field.

“We can only improve on that by working with partners, by participating in trainings on quality of graduates… Henceforth, we need to get views from the sector and also passionate appeal to participate which will determine the quality of graduates we will have,” Dr Chalwe pointed out.

While, another expert, Chewe Nkonde indicated that some courses were incorporated and mainly focused on making the programmes offered in the school more practical. This has seen the introduction of entrepreneurship courses, which ultimately strengthens the courses offered.

“Although a curriculum review was last undertaken in 2010, many challenges in the industry had been identified. Hence the review process aimed at tackling the compliance of the programmes to meet the market demands,” Dr Nkonde observed.

He stressed the need to build an entrepreneurship culture among the graduates to enable them be employers and innovators. This will lessen the burden of graduates perpetually having a mind-set of looking for employment amid limited job prospects once they graduate from university.

Professor Venon Chinene, commended the efforts of the experts and key players in the agriculture sector.

Professor Chinene, who is also a Soil Fertility Champion, noted that the curriculum was well executed in terms of incorporation of entrepreneurship. However, he advised that there is need to integrate climate smart agriculture and agroecology.

While the curriculum review takes five years, the school should not wait for the stipulated period to integrate the other areas which are key to enhancing productivity.

With this milestone achievement in the curriculum review and validation, there is still room to incorporate other key components, which is achievable by integrating all key players to ensure that quality and industry demands are attained.

                                           Acting UNZA Vice Chancellor Prof. Borniface 

                                           Namangala speaking during curriculum review.

E-SAPP MECHANISES SMALLHOLDER FARMERS

By HAPPY MULOLANI

MORE than 80% of smallholder farmers in Africa are engaged in agriculture. These farmers’ production capacities have been low due to the use of hand hoe.

In Zambia, more than 60% of smallholders use the hand hoe to cultivate their land resulting in low yields, thus the use of the hand hoe has resulted in limited production capacities.

To overcome this challenge, Government has reiterated the need to ensure smallholder farmers access modern mechanised equipment in order to boost their production capacities.

Government with support from the Enhanced Smallholder Agribusiness Promotion Programme (E-SAPP) has partnered with various Micro and Small Medium Enterprise (MSMEs) through the Matching Grant Facility (MGF) for enterprises such as Out-Grower schemes.

One such SME is Augustine Mweenda Agro Centre (AMAC), located in Chibombo district in Central province of Zambia. It is providing mechanization services and bulking facility to over 290 smallholder farmers of the district, which is being facilitated through provision of agricultural inputs and mechanisation as a way of increasing production.

As per E-SAPP guidelines, AMAC contributed 40% cash towards their sub-project. To improve the production capacity, Augustine Mweenda Agro Centre is providing mechanised services to smallholder farmers its working with after the financing support. This is based on the understanding that mechanisation improves the efficiency of production and multiplies the crop yields even during periods of climatic shocks.

Mechanisation also helps farmers prepare their fields early and reach the crop depth and also enhance chances of crop survival whenever long dry spells occur.

Despite the farming community being sensitized about the benefits of mechanised farming; farmers did not have the capacity to mechanise due to the high cost of hiring equipment. They still relied on the traditional methods of cultivation - hand hoe and animal draft power (oxen).

This presented the opportunity to some farmers in Chibombo district who lacked access to modern tools for farming for many years, to collaborate with AMAC in order to boost their production capacities.

“I have been using hand-hoe since I started farming in this area in 2009. To cultivate one hectare with a hand-hoe, I will take one week or more whilst my experience with hiring a tractor it takes less than a week, normally two days or so,” a smallholder farmer in Chibombo, Collins Tembo revealed.

Mr Tembo also said after trainings and accessing a tractor under AMAC, he is now able to produce 56 bags of 50kilogramme of soya bean from one hectare compared to 20 bags by 50kilogram previously in one hectare. He attributes this to adoption and application of new practices imparted during trainings, which also thwarts soil erosion and returns soil fertility for successive seasons.

One of the beneficiary, a soya bean farmer, Agnes Ngwenya, said previously she used to produce only 15 bags of soya bean from one hectare but after undergoing trainings and material support by AMAC, her yield has improved from 15 to 49 bags from the same hectare, noting that the knowledge and skills rendered were useful.

AMAC Director, Augustine Mweenda says collaborating with the Enhanced Smallholder Agribusiness Promotion Programme (E-SAPP) has enabled them to assist farmers in uplifting their livelihoods, which has been facilitated through the provision of mechanised services coupled with technical and material assistance to farmers in the district.

But one of the concerns of this mechanisation service is, its sustainability and affordability in the long-term, as has been the trend in previous years where modern mechanisation equipment is provided but when programmes phase-out, it becomes a white elephant.

“As part of sustainability efforts, we are providing the tractor at a lower cost of K400 per hectare as opposed to K800 which is being charged by most players on the market. It’s basically a subsidised cost which enables more smallholders access the tractor and also have a larger hectarge, which means the smallholders production capacities will be boosted,” Mr Mweenda said.

The idea of offering a subsidised rate to smallholder farmers has foreseen benefits which include; providing an affordable service to smallholder farmers, increasing hectarage area of their commodities of focus and increase volumes. And to promote mechanised farming and use of latest technologies to achieve high crop yields amid the adverse weather conditions.

Consideration needs to be taken into account if provision of mechanisation services to smallholder farmers is to be sustained through contributing funds in their cooperatives or farmer groups to maintain the tractor and also hire services at affordable prices. Equally, stakeholders need to provide support to upscale farmers’ agricultural production through mechanisation, as this will also ensure agricultural diversification of the agriculture sector and contribute to the country’s gross domestic product. Eventually, the benefits of offering mechanisation services will offer wealth creation and value addition.

AMAC’s efforts are meant to assist farmers have access to mechanise their farming system and adopt smart agriculture practices to reduce effects of climate change and increase their yields. Mechanising the farming system, diversify and adopt climate smart practices will enable them achieve high crop yields in view of climate change. 

                                            AMAC's tractor cultivating farmers - Chibombo

LIVESTOCK INTERVENTIONS IN CHIRUNDU

 By HAPPY MULOLANI

LUSITU is a rural outpost located 35kilometres west of Chirundu district of Southern province. It is known to be in the valley where the area experiences high temperatures, as it is positioned in Region I of the Zambia Agro-Ecological Zone.

By virtue of its location in the valley, access to reliable water sources for livestock farmers has been one of the detrimental factors in their livestock value chain.

Chairperson of Manzoomwa Farming As A Business School (FaaBS), Alick Malunga confirmed that farmers in the area lacked access to reliable water sources as they drew water from the seasonal Lusitu stream, which easily dried up, they also did not have adequate land to rear their goats neither did they have modern goat housing structures.

Mr Malunga, who is also a livestock farmer, owns 35 goats. He attests to unreliable access to water supply due to dryness of the area and lack of improved goats.

“We were also rearing local goat breeds which have low market value,” Mr Malunga disclosed.

These challenges contributed to the low pricing of goats on the market, which did not yield a return on their efforts. This provided an opportunity for the Enhanced Smallholder Agribusiness Promotion Programme (E-SAPP) to empower the smallholder farmers in organised groups, using the programme’s approach – Farming As A Business Schools. This approach enabled smallholder farmers to undergo livestock training and better methods of rearing goats for a season. Through four FaaBS, a total 417 smallholder farmers were trained in the livestock value chain. After which they were assessed and qualified for financing under the programme’s Matching Grant facility (MGF) of a total K1,400,000.

Of the approved funds, K615,000 was released towards the group’s first milestone coupled with their contribution, which went towards one solar panel, a borehole, two goat housing units, dip tank and the construction of a manager’s house. While the group will work towards the construction of a classroom and marketing slab once the additional funds are released for the remainder of the milestones they envision to undertake.

Mr Malunga disclosed that the support rendered to the farmers has enabled the four FaaBS put up a goat breeding centre with a production capacity of 200 goats for the two goat housing units already erected.

He says it is pacifying that the group through FaaBS, learnt about the importance of accessing improved goat breeds and management, thereby resulting in improved quality of goats and higher market value.

“Previously, a local goat was being sold at K150 but with improved breeds, the market price will increase to about K400, which is currently the range of prevailing market price and is a good return on farmers’ efforts,” Mr Malunga said.

He is glad that the water challenge has been resolved. This means the breeding centre can integrate with other activities such as gardening which require constant supply of water.

“At first, two dry boreholes were sunk, until a third borehole where we have found water at a depth of 90metres,” Mr Malunga sighed with relief.

It is encouraging that the initiative to come up with a goat breeding centre has stimulated interest among the traditional leadership, who immediately offered some tracts of land to set-up the breeding centre.

“Three Village Headmen offered land for the goat breeding centre. Village Headman Mungomba, Village Headman Siamwanjwa and Senior Headman Kwelele, who is the Chief’s representative collectively offered 54 hectares to set-up the goat breeding centre,” Mr Malunga revealed.

He explained that they offered the land through a letter of endorsement, which facilitated legalising of the land and also submission of plans for the proposed structure.

Speaking on behalf of the traditional leadership, Village Headman Mungomba expressed happiness that for a long time, farmers in the area lacked the basic facilities to boost their goat production capacities which affected their households’ food security and incomes.

Headman Mungomba reiterated that farmers need to take advantage of the breeding centre as they work towards expanding the facility in view of the ever increasing demand for goats.

E-SAPP Livestock Specialist, Lemmy Munsanje pointed out that the 54hectares of land allocated to the farmers by the traditional leadership was a good gesture as it was aimed at empowering the local farmers.

However, consideration should be made to increase more land to the breeding centre, as once its fully functional, the land may get smaller. Suffice to state that increasing land for such a productive venture will positively impact on the livelihoods in the area.

Senior Livestock Production Officer for Lusaka province, Bwalya Tembo pointed out that farmers needed to take into account the climatic changes and avoid the indiscriminate cutting of trees, as this can affect their environment.

Ms Tembo said it was necessary for farmers to engage in tree planting wherever trees had been cut to avert any effects such as deforestation.   

Whereas, E-SAPP Nutrition Specialist, Nalukui Sakala encouraged farmers to practise gardening within the confines of the breeding centre in order to uplift their nutrition status.

“She also called for active participation of women and youth in the livestock value chain as this will increase their nutrition status and incomes,” Ms Sakala said.

In essence, the programme’s FaaBS approach has worked progressively in resolving some smallholder farmers’ bottlenecks in Lusitu such as access to water, improved breeds and their management. Eventually, this improves their quality of goats which will enable them bargain for a higher price and an organised market. 

A major lesson learnt is that farmers need to be equipped with the right skills and support. Once this is done, the process of ownership and sustainability are guaranteed, only then will food security and incomes be enhanced.