Mazyopa girls: Too poor to pay for education

DOREEN NAWA, Lusaka
THE idea that community schools are a “fallback option” for learners is challenged by the fact that most pupils do not tend to get far in their education due to financial constraints.
It is a well-known fact that education is a basic human right and plays a key role in human, social, and economic development.
But pupils at Mazyopa Community School are not privileged enough to enjoy this right because of the non-availability of funds to support their education.
Memory Nachamba, 18, a Grade Nine pupil at the community school, is one of 19 Grade Nine pupils who missed the examinations because she did not pay examination fees.
According to a notice on the head teacher’s door, the pupils in Grade Nine are required to pay up to K900 to sit for the examinations. It is an amount most households in Mazyopa can ill-afford.
“It hurts to drop out of school because of lack of money,” says Memory. “My parents tried their best but they could not afford paying my examinations fees. The school management also tried but all to no avail,” Memory says.
Memory says despite great progress in the last few years, some children are still denied their right to education in Mazyopa Township, especially at the time of writing final examinations for grades Seven, Nine and 12.
“I long for free education in Zambia, because free education should really be free education and not what it is in Zambia. For me this kind of education is restrictive,” she says.
For Memory, restricted access to education through examination fees is one of the surest ways of transmitting poverty from generation to generation.
Memory is aware that education reduces poverty, boosts economic growth and increases one’s income.
She knows that education increases a person’s chances of having a healthy life and that it reduces maternal deaths because of delayed child bearing.
“Education can promote gender equality, reduce child marriage, and promote peace. In sum, education is one of the most important investments a country can make in its people and its future. But in Zambia, it doesn’t seem so for us pupils at Mazyopa Community School,” she says.
Another pupil, Winter Sianyulu, says missing Grade Nine examinations because of school fees is unfair to his future.
The 17-year-old is an orphan who depends on his grandmother for financial support.
“Eighteen of us in Grade Nine from Mazyopa Community School are not writing the examinations because we did not pay the examination fees. It is such a depressing reality but again, there is nothing I can do. Currently, I do part-time jobs like cleaning people’s yards and I am paid between K20 to K30 depending on the kind of work, but the money is not enough to pay my fees as I also supplement on the household daily needs,” says Winter.
In 2006, Frank Kaonga gave up his land to start a community school in Mazyopa, an illegal squalid settlement north Lusaka that has now been legalised.
“As a community, a meeting was held and it was discovered that children faced a lot of challenges, like not going to school and covering long distances when going to school. After analyzing the challenges, we agreed to start a community school beginning with pre-school. And because of my passion for education, I gave up this land,” says Mr Kaonga.
“We had over 800 pupils from pre-school to Grade 12, but now we have 300, the number has reduced because we no longer feed them. As at now, we have a boarding school and this is not easy; we have 11 girls. We also have Grade 12’s that could not write their examinations due to funds. These are eight,” he says.
Mazyopa Community School also faces a challenge of volunteer teachers not lasting because of lack of support.
The school has 11 teachers.
A third year student under a Regional Psychosocial Support Initiative (REPSSI) programme called Community Based Work with Children and Youth (CBWCY), Febby Mwanza is also a volunteer counsellor at Mazyopa Community School.
She says it is no longer enough just for children to be in school but for them to be able to progress through writing examinations at crucial levels like grades Seven, Nine and 12.
Ms Mwanza says from her experience after being attached to the school four months ago, much more needs to be done to educate pupils in Mazyopa Community beyond just a basic education.
“This area is youthful, with a lot of challenges that restrict access to education for these youths,” she says.
Ms Mwanza adds: “Childhood education gives young people a chance to develop social awareness and is key to cross-cultural understanding. When children are taught social studies, geography, and history they have a better understanding of what life is like for other people. This understanding is the first step in child development anywhere.
For Ms Mwanza, educated teenage girls are less likely to marry early and become very young mothers and also educated people are less likely to fall victim to a preventable disease.
“Through education, young people can learn how to maintain their own health, which will, in turn, be less of a burden to their community. Education is the glue that holds our society together. It is the step-up necessary to see above what is around you,” she says.
But for many of the young people in Mazyopa Township such talk about education and its benefits sounds too lofty to attain for now.
PUBLISHED IN THE ZAMBIA DAILY MAIL ON November 17, 2019. LINK: http://www.daily-mail.co.zm/mazyopa-girls-too-poor-to-pay-for-education/

US$500 million equity for agric investment

DOREEN NAWA

The 2019 Africa Investment Forum has seen a US$500 million equity closed for the Africa Infrastructure Investment Fund to speed up investments in agriculture.

Another landmark is the financial close for the Africa Guarantee Fund US$175 Equity transaction to support Small and Medium Size Enterprises, and US$350 million for South Africa’s beef agro-processing project.

The 2019 Africa Investment Forum 

opened on Monday in Johannesburg, South Africa living up to its promise to move from commitment to action.

The opening ceremony attended by President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa; President Nana Akufo Addo of Ghana; President Paul Kagame of Rwanda; and Prime Minister of Mozambique Agostinho do Rosario.

In an opening address as host country, President Ramaphosa urged investors to move beyond pledges.

“The time is now to move with speed to ensure that we unlock our potential as Africa. Indeed our continent is ripe for investments, but more importantly, it is also brimming with enormous 

profitable opportunities,”  President Ramaphosa said.

The Africa Investment Forum is an innovative, multi-stakeholder transactional marketplace 

conceived by the African Development Bank, aimed at raising capital, advancing projects to the bankable stage, and accelerating financial closure of deals.

“As the investor community, your presence here shows your unwavering will to help us and support us to succeed. I invite you, therefore, to join us as we pass the flickering torch of 

progress across every border of this great continent until the light of development and economic prosperity illuminates every African village, every African town, every African city, in every African household,” he said.

The inaugural Africa Investment Forum secured investment interests for deals valued at US$38.7 billion in less than 72 hours. 

“A lot of progress has been made on these investment interests, with a highly dedicated team of partners working around the clock to accelerate financial 

closure for transactions,” African Development Bank President Akinwuni Adesina said.

Another transaction tabled last year – a US$600 million transaction for COCOBOD to help improve processing and value addition for cocoa - has also reached financial close, and will be signed during this edition of the Forum. 

Similarly, South Africa’s US$350 beef agro-processing project has reached financial close.

“Promise made, promise kept,” Dr Adesina said. 

He noted that Mara Phones Ashish Takkhar made a commitment during the 2018 Forum. 

“In 2019, he delivered. It is a new, more confident Africa. A continent now aware of its place in the world and determined to be a global investment haven. And Africa is harnessing investors’ interests and investments. Welcome to the Africa Investment Forum, the place to be for investors,” Dr Adesina said.

AfDB increases capital to US$208 billion

Adesina during the board meeting

By DOREEN NAWA

THE African Development Bank (AfDB) has increased the bank’s capital by 125 percent to US$208 billion, an increase of US$115 billion, the Bank’s President Akinwumi Adesina announced on October 31, 2019 after a meeting of the board in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.
During the meeting, the shareholders of the pan-African financial institution agreed to double the African Development Bank’s authorized capital to $208 billion.
And after the tough negotiations, Dr Adesina told journalists that the "historic decision" will allow the African Development Bank to meet its mandate.
“This is a joyful day for Africa, a historic day, this will give us greater stability for the future,” says Dr Adesina.
The capital increment, the biggest throughout the entire existence of the African Development Bank since its foundation in 1964, is a striking demonstration of certainty by investors.
With this increment, the capital of the Bank will dramatically increase from US$93 billion to US$208 billion. This will further strengthen the Bank’s initiative on advancing financial development for the continent.
The increase in capital guarantees that the Bank will maintain its sterling AAA rating, all steady, from the top rating organizations.
The African Development Bank launched solicitation for a general capital increment two years ago, to hasten the achievement of its High 5 developmental strategies, the sustainable developmental goals and the African Union’s Agenda 2063.
“This intermediate scenario allows the AfDB to continue its loan growth focused on its High Fives priorities while maintaining robust capital adequacy metrics that support its credit profile,” says David Rogovic, a Vice President – Senior Analyst in Moody’s Sovereign Risk Group.
The African Development Bank was established to foster sustainable economic development and social progress in its member-states, thus contributing to poverty reduction, has 53 African countries as well as 26 non-African states as members.
The Bank carries out the mission by mobilizing and allocating resources for investment in member-countries and providing policy advice and technical assistance to support development efforts.
Three scenarios had been discussed over the past two years for the African Development Bank’s capital increase: increases of 100 percent, 150 percent and 200 percent.
Dr Adesina’s team, supported by several African shareholders, advocated this third option, arguing that it was essential for the Bank’s “High 5” plan to continue (enlighten, feed, industrialize, integrate Africa and improve people’s quality of life).
Non-regional shareholders have long favoured a more moderate enhancement, sometimes with reservations about the effectiveness of the bank’s disbursements and operations.
These foreign shareholders who include United States, France, England, etc represent 41.1 percent of the Bank’s shareholding.
They are the most highly rated shareholders and those whose equity participation – and the implicit guarantee that they will come to the bank’s rescue in the event of a crisis – is the most reassuring for AfDB lenders.
During Dr Adesina’s presidency, at the helm since September 2015, the AfDB significantly increased its lending, in line with the Nigerian leader’s ambitious programme. The bank’s outstanding loans increased from US$ 17.83 billion in 2015 to US$ 26.3 billion at the end of 2018, nearly 80 percent of which was made up of sovereign loans. A ramp-up supported mainly by debt, whose stock increased from US$22.8 billion in 2015 to US$33.365 billion last year.

Kazungula bridge: Game-changer

ANALYSIS: DOREEN NAWA
SOON scenes of cross border traders both men and women, travellers, fishermen and young people crossing the Zambezi River on floating planks, ferries, rickshaw boats and canoes will be history.
For years ferries have been used to cross the river. It takes transporters more than eight days at times to navigate, impacting negatively on trade.
For those that have not been to Kazungula in a while, getting there now gives hope that developing reliable and state of the art cross-border infrastructure to develop in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and Africa as a whole is possible.
A key road and rail bridge crossing over the Zambezi River called the Kazungula Bridge along the North –South Corridor (NSC) is nearing completion.
The NSC directly serves the economies of eight out of 16 SADC countries, and the Kazungula road and Rail Bridge over the Zambezi River is a key trade route linking the port of Durban in South Africa to the inland countries of Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, the DRC, and Mozambique and up to Dar-es-Salaam in Tanzania.
The development has been facilitated by a tripartite arrangement between Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe on the NSC within the SADC region.
It is part of a corridor-long infrastructure improvement programme, to enhance regional trade and integration in the region and beyond.
In just 24 months or less, travelling between the water-rich but land-locked Zambia and Botswana will get easier, smoother and faster when the new road and rail bridge, currently under construction across the waters of the Zambezi, is commissioned for public use.
The 923 metre-long by 18.5-metre-wide masterpiece will link the town of Kazungula in Zambia with Botswana.
Its location traverses the intersection of the Zambezi and Chobe rivers. At this point, four countries – Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe – meet.
Once complete, the Kazungula Bridge Project will have a single-line railway track, pavement for pedestrians and international border facilities: two One-Stop Border Posts, located on Botswana and Zambian territories.
The bridge will be connected to the Mosetse (Botswana)- Kazungula (Zambia) Railway.
The project is one of several projects under the Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA).
PIDA is a strategic continental initiative which has the buy-in of all African countries, for mobilizing resources to transform Africa through modern infrastructure.
Under PIDA, there are 51 cross-border infrastructure projects comprising more than 400 actionable sub-projects across four main infrastructure sectors, namely energy, transport, transboundary water and ICT.
No doubt, once completed, the Kazungula Bridge Project will actually bridge the regional divide.
The project will transform the dynamics of transportation in surrounding communities, counties and cities, boosting road travel and the ease of doing business within the SADC region and beyond.
Trade has been a major driver of Africa’s economic growth and receives increasing emphasis in regional and national development plans.
Shippers demand high performing corridors that reduce cost and time spent on transport and logistics and increase the reliability and predictability of the corridors. Hence trade facilitation is key to continued trade growth.
Following feasibility studies and funding approval for the nearly US$260 million project by the board of the African Development Bank in 2011, construction began in 2014 after the governments of Zambia and Botswana announced a deal to build a bridge, replacing the existing Kazungula ferry service.
The principal financiers of the project include the governments of Zambia and Botswana, the African Development Bank, the EU-Africa Infrastructure Trust Fund grant and the Japan International Cooperation Agency.
Zimbabwe was brought on board the project as a stakeholder in March 2018 after President Emmerson Mnangagwa of Zimbabwe, President Ian Khama of Botswana and President Edgar Lungu jointly inspected the progress of the multi-million-dollar project.
Progress is not only visible on the Kazungula Bridge Project, but this project is proof of the consensus and focus on infrastructure development amongst regional and continental stakeholders is possible and must be prioritised.
In southern Africa, transport costs are adversely impacted by the opportunity costs of delays at border crossings, weighbridges, and ports, and by lengthy customs processes.
Simulations suggest that reducing border delays can reduce transport costs significantly.
For instance, delays at Beit Bridge on the border between South Africa and Zimbabwe and Chirundu, a border post between Zambia and Zimbabwe have resulted in a significant economic drain.
Beit Bridge is the busiest border post in the region, handling as many as 500 trucks a day; delays for northbound traffic are 34 hours and for southbound traffic 11 hours.
Evidence from the Chirundu border indicates that it takes northbound traffic approximately 39 hours to cross the border and southbound traffic 14 hours.
The total cost of trucks standing at these two border posts is over US$60 million per year.
When costs of standing at other borders such as Groblersbrug and Martins Drift and Kazungula are factored, the costs increase by as much as an additional US$100 million per annum.
It is against this backdrop that the Kazungula Bridge Project will positively contribute towards addressing the many challenges the region faces in the transportation of goods and services.
The author is Zambia Daily Mail Reporter.
PUBLISHED IN THE ZAMBIA DAILY MAIL ON OCTOBER 19, 2019. LINK:  http://www.daily-mail.co.zm/kazungula-rail-bridge-to-be-game-changer/

With sound policies, Africa can feed the world

It is nearly one century and a half since man achieved flight, and 60 years since he cracked space. Doctors are conducting surgeries that made content for science fiction 40 years ago and humans, in general, are advancing at dizzying speeds.
Yet despite splitting the atom and converting the world into a global village, it is amazing that we have not found a solution for the plaguing food insecurity around the world.
It is estimated that one billion people globally are suffering from starvation

and undernutrition, with the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations approximating that 239 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa go to bed hungry. There are risks that this figure could rise with the population expected to grow to two billion by 2050, up from the current 1,2 billion. And based on the trends of present day Africa food production systems, the continent will only meet 13 percent of its food needs in 2050.
With these food-poverty levels characterising the continent, it becomes unflattering to realise that Africa boasts the world’s largest parcel of unused arable land — 202 million hectares, according to the World Bank. It is also mind-boggling to note that 61 percent of Africans work in agriculture, but the sector only accounts for 25 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), leaving 47,5 percent of the continent’s population living on less than US$1,25 a day. Curiously, a great majority of this starving population is made up of young individuals, who could be productively used for a radical shift in farm-based productivity.
So, with these resources being readily available, what is stopping Africa from becoming an agriculture-led economic powerhouse?
One of the biggest challenges for the farmers in the continent has been poor access to quality farm inputs. For example, just 20 percent of Africa’s farmers can access improved varieties of seeds. Other threats to Africa’s agricultural productivity include poor storage systems, lack of transportation services, inadequate processing tools and weak marketing structures, all of which lead to significant wastage.
In Nigeria for instance, the demand for tomatoes is put at 2,2 million tonnes while local supply is 800 000 tonnes. However, the actual production is 1,5 million tonnes of which nearly half, a mind-numbing 700 000 tonnes, is lost post-harvest, leaving the country to spend US$1 billion every year on tomato paste imports.
Similarly, in Kenya, a significant amount of maize went to waste in 2017 because of poor storage, leading to aflatoxin and pest attacks. And in 2015, the Kenyan government destroyed 754 015 bags of maize worth US$20 million after it was declared unfit for consumption following an extended storage period that saw it stay in stores for seven years.
The two cases present a picture that is replicated in several countries across Africa. Clear cases of hard work with aborted returns. Higher sector returns are further undermined by inadequate market infrastructure, weak institutions and support services, and poor policies.
Back to Kenya, potatoes are the second most important food and cash crop after maize, being grown by approximately 800 000 smallholder farmers. The crop employs 2,7 million players across the channels and contributes over US$500 million to the Kenyan economy.
But potato farmers are some of the most oppressed and poorly rewarded as far as input-output ratio is concerned. A major thorn in their side is the nature of packaging. Traders prey on the desperation, ignorance and disorganisation of the farmers to force through extended bags weighing between 110 and 280kg for the price of a 50kg sack. This is despite Section 42 of the Agriculture Act 2013, stating that the unit of measure of all agricultural produce is 50kg.
Thankfully, for potato farmers, there is hope of a better future, with several organisations advocating for favourable policies and structures. The Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), for instance, has collaborated with the Agriculture Council of Kenya (AGCK) to push for the enactment and implementation of the Irish Potato Act, 2018, which will guide the marketing of potatoes in the country.
The legislation will require potato farmers to be registered at the county level and collection centres established to open up the markets. The legislation also outlines the packaging and weighing standards of the produce.
Such policies will create order from the chaos in which middlemen thrive, as farmers who invest the most in the chain, wallow in poverty.
Similar efforts, if reproduced across the continent, will lead to the strengthening of agriculture as an economic resource that can pull Africa’s millions of poor out of poverty. But to achieve agricultural growth centred around the poor, governments across the continent are required to maintain a bold stance on policy reforms and formulation. Open dialogues between governments, farmers and traders must also take place with the conversations guiding design of public institutions, product grading and standards, plant protection regulations and market ethos.
It is only then that an agricultural transformation that will build social cohesion, drive beneficial continental trade, provide a platform for sustainable exports to the rest of the world, and, most importantly, help create millions of jobs while pulling subsistence farmers out of poverty, will happen.
Boaz Keizire is Head of Policy and Advocacy at Alliance for Green Revolution for Africa (AGRA) and 2017 Aspen New Voices Fellow.

Africa not poor, insists Magufuli as AfDB agrees

AfDB President Dr. Adesina at the 39th SADC meeting.

DOREEN NAWA
Dar es Salaam
AFRICA is not poor and has all the resources needed to create its own wealth, Tanzania's President John Magufuli has said.
And African Development Bank says Africa must not be under-ambitious in its transformation saying its potential to create its own wealth is visible, the Banks President Akinwumi Adesina has said.
The two were speaking at the on going 39 Southern African Development Community (SADC) summit in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
"Our countries are not poor. We are very rich. We have all the resources needed for one to be rich. We have huge population, large number of wildlife, vast plant species, marine ecosystem, minerals and hydrocarbons,” President Magufuli said.
President Magufuli officially took over as Chair of the 16-nation regional economic integration body, from Namibian President Dr. Hage Geingob at the summit attended by 16 heads of state and government.
And Dr Adesina said the African Development Bank’s $13 billion investment in Southern African region since 2012 is delivering strong results across SADC Countries.
The African Development Bank has invested heavily in the region with key projects including a $5 billion investment in ESKOM, critical for power supply for South Africa and the SADC region.
The Bank has also supported Mauritius with $114 million for its St. Louis Power Plant that now provides 36 percent of the population with electricity.
“For every dollar of paid-in capital by the region, it received about $ 19 in investments, an impressive 19:1 leverage ratio,” Dr Adesina said in his address.
“Unlocking the potential of the Inga hydropower project in the Democratic Republic of Congo must be a top priority,” Adesina urged.
With a potential of over 44,000 MW, Inga can power the whole of the region, and beyond.  “That’s why the African Development Bank is strongly supporting the realization of the INGA 3,” he said.
The recently inaugurated Walvis Bay Port expansion in Namibia, supported with $300 million from the Bank, will help double its capacity from 300,000 to 750,000 twenty-foot equivalent units, providing better port access to Zambia, Botswana, and Zimbabwe.
Other transformative bank-funded projects include the construction of the Kazungula Bridge that will link Zambia and Botswana, and improve access to Malawi and DRC. The Bank’s $500 million funding of the Nacala corridor holds the key for much of regional integration in the SADC region and will expand regional trade by 25 percent and reduce transport cost by 15-25 percent.
The African Development Bank is supporting the establishment of a $ 1.2 billion SADC Regional Development Fund to help mobilize domestic resources for regional infrastructure and industrialization.
In May this year, the Bank approved $ 2 million for the operationalization of this Fund, including for project preparation for agriculture, pharmaceuticals, and mining.
Thanking the heads of state for their strong support for a general capital increase (GCI) for the Bank, he noted that the proposed capital increase would help fast-track Africa’s development.
Last year, the Bank financed the rapid dissemination of technologies to tackle the fall army worm, a serious threat to food security in the SADC region. Its intervention reached 1.5 million farmers in that year alone.
SADC’s 16 member states are Angola, Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo, Comoros, Lesotho, Malawi, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Seychelles, ESwatini, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
“I see a brighter future for the SADC region. Regional railways that link the whole region, regional value chains that will drive competitiveness, Special Agro-industrial zones that will transform agriculture into a major business across the region, creating millions of jobs, and regional power pools that will finally solve the energy challenge in the region,” Dr  Adesina said.

Reaping the economic rewards of conservation

In eastern Zambia, smallholder Nelly Zimba picks grass to use for mulching to improve her soil fertility

© Doreen Chilumbu

By DOREEN NAWA

Climate-smart incentives

To overcome the issues of drought and extreme poverty in Zambia, smallholders are being rewarded for taking up climate-smart, conservation practices to increase productivity and protect their environment.

Smallholders in Zambia are receiving training in climate-smart production practices and technologies to achieve food security and access to guaranteed markets, while conserving natural resources. Through a Community Markets for Conservation (COMACO) model for rural development, 179,000 farmers across eastern Zambia – 52% of whom are women – have benefited from access to affordable farming inputs and formal training in low-tillage farming, mulching and composting.

COMACO’s premise is that with the right training and incentives, smallholders will favour sustainable agriculture practices over more destructive methods, such as monoculture and deforestation, and move away from elephant and rhino poaching. The scheme offers above-market prices for goods that are produced in compliance with conservation agriculture practices, and access to inputs when using these methods.

Before the programme was introduced in 2003, farmers in the area were earning around €17 per harvest; this has since risen by at least €170. “Most families in the Luangwa Valley experience 3-5 months of chronic food insecurity. With few options available to support their families, residents may turn to logging, illegal hunting, and slash-and-burn agriculture. But, since these incentives were introduced to the area, these trends have reduced and farmers involved in the programme have enough food,” says chief Nsefu, a traditional leader in the area.

The promoted practices also include beekeeping, gardening in the dry season and poultry husbandry. Diversified production has enhanced productivity for smallholders and reduced the need for inorganic fertilisers, thereby decreasing nitrous oxide emissions. “Teaching how to compost may not be appreciated [by farmers] the first time but, as time has gone by, we have come to value the training. Our soils are looking healthier and even the crop yield has improved. We have enough food in our homes and income in our pockets,” says Zitandala Sakala, a smallholder farmer in Luangwa Valley in eastern Zambia.

The uptake of beekeeping has also dissuaded farmers from cutting down their trees. “It has been hard work, but now, hundreds of farmers are realising the value of keeping and protecting trees. I have felt such pride in the producers for the way they have changed their practices and it makes me so happy to see them make a better living from conservation,” says Julius Kamanga, a beekeeper from Mfuwe.

Mulching has also become an integral practice among farmers in the area as a result of the project training. Smallholder Nelly Zimba feels the technique is a necessary ingredient to successful farming and provides the key to long-term maintenance of strong, biologically active soils. “If you see my field today, it is full of maize stalks; I have reserved this for mulching at an opportune time,” she says. “We raise over 35 different types of fruits and vegetables with about 2 ha under production. We have 4 ha suitable for vegetable production, so we rotate the other 2 with cover crops.”

Zambia faces frequent flooding and drought, and Luangwa Valley is one of the most affected areas in the country. To help mitigate the impacts of drought, the programme has facilitated the planting of over 10 million cassava cuttings to serve as a drought-resistant food reserve. Cassava crops can also help increase water storage in the soil profile and reduce the risk of rainfall run-off. “[The farmers] have learned the importance of diversification and now grow cassava. Before COMACO, a lot of farmers just grew maize and the yields have always been depressing,” says Nsefu. PUBLISHED IN THE SPORE MAGAZINE ON APRIL 3, 2019. LINK: https://spore.cta.int/en/climate-smart-solutions/all/article/reaping-the-economic-rewards-of-conservation-sid029ad9381-f845-4332-be5e-8ab35a406afb

Groundnut production boosts profits for Zambian farmers

By DOREEN CHILUMBU

Greater access to improved groundnut seed in Zambia and training in crop management is increasing smallholder productivity and market access in the face of diminishing cotton prices.

Small-scale farmers in the Chipata, Katete, Minda, Nyimba and Petauke districts of Zambia are moving away from cotton production, and its dwindling harvest prices, to cultivate new and improved groundnut seed varieties. The drought tolerant and high yielding groundnut seeds are helping to increase food and nutrition security in the country, as well as the yields and livelihoods of smallholder farmers. The improved seeds are the result of a research and development project, Strengthening Food Legume Seed Delivery Systems in Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia, which has been funded by the Agricultural Productivity Programme for Southern Africa (APPSA). Efforts of the project, introduced in 2014, have so far reached over 1.4 million direct beneficiaries across the three countries.

Zambian smallholders are cultivating improved groundnut seed varieties using conservation agriculture techniques to improve their productivity and incomes

© Doreen Chilumbu

Through the initiative, farmers are also being linked up with private seed companies to secure guaranteed markets for their production. In the Petauke district of Zambia, for example, farmers have been partnered with the Unit Seed Company since 2014, and the project provided smallholders with enough basic groundnut seed to plant 68 ha. Before the cropping season was over in 2015, the seed was already secured at a purchase price of ZMW 6.47 (€0.45) per kg by the company.

“I have found seed production of certified groundnut seed to be beneficial in terms of income generation, which has enabled me to buy cattle, a plough, build a house, and purchase 22 bags of fertiliser,” says Lenard Daka, lead farmer from Felesiano village in Petauke. Daka asserts that before the programme was introduced, most farmers were struggling to meet their needs as their cotton harvests could not be sold for lucrative prices at the market. “Other farmers in my group are now able to provide food for their families and school materials for their children,” he continues.

Emelia Chikubabe from Kumanzi village, also in Petauke, says that after receiving training in entrepreneurship skills, crop management and conservation agriculture under the project, she is a more knowledgeable farmer. “I used to plant the same crop year after year, rather than rotating my crops or planting a range of crops together to grow more, maintain soil health and diversify my family’s diet,” she says. “I have learned that while indigenous seeds are important to protect genetic diversity, improved seeds help farmers to adapt to changing climate conditions, fight crop diseases and produce higher yields,” she adds.

Through collaborative research efforts in the three APPSA implementing countries, over 40 seed varieties have been developed and released for other crops, including for legumes, maize, rice and sorghum. “Some of the improved crop varieties have been developed with a focus on high yield and quality, early maturity, adaptation for abiotic and biotic stresses, as well as tolerance to major diseases and pests of the specific crop,” says Monica Murata, APPSA programme coordinator. PUBLISHED IN THE SPORE MAGAZINE ON JULY 30, 2019. LINK: https://spore.cta.int/en/production/all/article/groundnut-production-boosts-profits-for-zambian-farmers-sid03ebc31d8-dd6c-4e3d-bc16-514d5df81a67?fbclid=IwAR0YuDzDVFxB9To9GJ-JoZnb7Pk8Di-Be8EO2AoD2maPVmJb3wJFNd-i0EQ

Graduating with a Bachelor’s, baby

Tabo and her daughter on the graduation day

Tabo while pregnant

DOREEN NAWA, Lusaka
GETTING pregnant on university campus was not part of 24-year-old Tabo Masinda’s plan, and it certainly came with its own challenges.
Tabo hoped to finish her undergraduate education and start a family after working for a couple of years and travelling.
But everything changed in February 2016 when she discovered that she was pregnant while pursuing a Bachelor of Arts degree in Mass Communications at the University of Zambia in Lusaka.
“You need to abort, because I am not ready to be a father,” was the response she got from her boyfriend, the man responsible for her pregnancy.
But Tabo could have none of that talk.
The suggestion to abort and the refusal by her boyfriend to take up responsibility of the pregnancy depressed Tabo.
She knew at that moment that she was carrying a child, her child and that it deserved life, but the words from her boyfriend became clearer as she woke from her daze of confusion.
But deep down her heart, she told herself never to abort despite the challenges that child bearing would come with.
Tabo lived her words.
For a moment she considered it. It seemed like an abortion would solve her issues for just a moment. But then she remembered that abortion comes with its own challenges.
For Tabo, going the abortion way was putting her life and that of her baby at risk.
She remembers encouraging several other young women that came to her with fear after facing an unplanned pregnancy and she told them they were strong.
“I told them they could continue their education, and that they had support to be a successful parent. I realised I lacked the same hope for myself that I had for these women. I, too, could be strong. I, too, could continue my education, and had the same support to be a successful parent,” she says.
“No, I’m keeping my baby,” she told herself.
It was hard to be pregnant and continue her education.
She faced discrimination on campus, which made her doubt her ability to excel in school, and her young age brought insecurities of her ability to be a good mother but she gathered the courage.
Despite her doubts, she also had a wealth of support on campus; some of her friends were great pillars when she faced discrimination.
Another worry for Tabo was the disappointment she caused to her parents.
Yes, Tabo knew it was wrong and the thought of disappointing her parents after all the trust they had in her was unbearable.
To the contrary, her parents offered a great support system to her during this time.
“My parents, too, called every day to check up on me just to make sure I was doing fine, they encouraged me to focus on my studies, take care of myself for me and the baby’s sake. This was the greatest of them all,” Tabo says.
In all this, Tabo promised herself to focus on what was important and get rid of the negative thoughts.
She studied even harder, ate healthy, and prayed the more.
In no time, she was almost half way her pregnancy journey, and when it was examination time around September 2016, she sat for her second year examinations, did her media practice attachments while almost due. And she made it to third year.
In November 2016, she gave birth to a baby girl, Tumelo.
The struggles grew after she had Tumelo, as did the support she received and the strength she acquired.
In the midst of what seemed like accomplishments, she faced hardships along the way, but she realised that each trial made her a stronger and a more empowered individual.
Tabo had to figure out how to juggle school and a family life, while overcoming the refusal by her boyfriend to take up responsibility of the pregnancy.
As a new mother and a student, a lot of adjustments had to be made; she exited campus boarding facilities and had to rent an apartment with her baby in Kalingalinga Township.
She engaged a live-in maid to take care of her baby while she was in school.
It was tiring, she missed some classes but one promise she made to herself was never to let any of her children lack anything.
Before going for classes, she would prepare milk for her daughter.
Her parents assisted her in paying for the rentals and whatever monies remained from her bursary allowance, she channelled towards her upkeep.
Despite missing classes, Tabo made it to fourth year.
Many times she built castles in the air of how she would want to spoil her little girl, give her the best of life, take her to the best school, drive her to school and not walk by foot like she is doing.
Then she realised all this would only happen if she worked hard and focus on her school.
And because of this self-encouragement, Tabo graduated with a merit on March 5, 2019.
She says her story is in no way an encouragement for girls to have babies before the right time.
“The saying ‘you can’t serve two masters’ is so accurate. It was really hard for me but to those who are already in a similar predicament, know that pregnancy should never be the reason to postpone your career. Never get distracted,” Tabo says. PUBLISHED IN THE ZAMBIA DAILY MAIL ON MARCH 17, 2019

Need to reshape banana production in Nyimba district

Amon Daka packing bananas for sale beyond Nyimba

A Banana plantation in Nyimba-PICTURES BY DOREEN NAWA

DOREEN NAWA, Nyimba
FOR smallholders in Nyimba district in Eastern Province, low yields and decreased incomes in their banana farming activities are part of their daily complaints.
Amon Daka, a 40-year-old smallholder who lives in the remote Chamilala village, east of Nyimba district, says his agricultural productivity has been a mixture of hope and despair as he always records miserable yields.
In cases where the yield is impressive, post-harvest losses will always bring his expected income down.
For Mr Daka and other smallholder banana farmers in Nyimba, the major problem has been access to the market in terms of transport and stiff competition, storage facilities and change in weather pattern that has contributed to a drop in yields each year.
Another major problem is the lack of adequate information on best farming practices such as when and how to plant the bananas, which has also led to a decrease in productivity, less income from their produce, contributing to low living standards in the area.
“I have been in banana production for over 20 years now. Before then, the business was lucrative because there was no much competition. We had few people that were involved in the banana production, giving the few of us enough room to market our produce,” Mr Daka says.
Mr Daka says the struggles in the banana production in Nyimba are discouraging not only to seasonal farmers but young farmers that want to venture into the production.
“Youngsters endure probably the most from these losses. They do not have the patience to wait like we do. I think something needs to be done to cushion what we are faced with and give life to banana farming here in Nyimba,” Mr Daka says.
The story is not different for 44-year-old Esther Tembo, who says banana farming has been unproductive for her.
“I always lack money to transport my produce to places beyond Nyimba, I have tried in these years to cultivate more by clearing land and planting new banana suckers but the weather has not been good for my farming activities,” she says.
Ms Tembo has an enormous smile when she just harvests her bananas on her small rural farm 45 kilometres north of Nyimba district.
However, the smile shortly turns to a glare when the topic turns to marketing her fruit.
Like most farmers in Nyimba, Mrs Tembo sells her crops by means of native brokers, who purchase instantly from farmers and then transport the produce to major markets in Lusaka.
Brokers are extensively disliked by growers, Mrs Tembo says, due to their unreliability and pay a pittance for their crops.
Nevertheless, farmers have little option but to sell to them.
They lack storage facilities to maintain their perishable crops.
“The brokers are not good,” Mrs Tembo says, recalling how much profit she would have made if she had a reliable place to sell her produce.
And once the brokers get to banana farmers in Nyimba, they paid only K2 to K4 per kilogram, a far cry from the K1 per fruit bananas have been fetching in Lusaka.
She says her year-end seasonal sales were disastrous. She only sold one-quarter of the bananas she grew, the remaining have been left to rot behind her house.
“Even the local market here is not different, we sell to travellers and the competition is stiff. It would have been better if we had maybe an industry to process and add value to the bananas, like drying them,” Mrs Tembo says.
According to statistics at Nyimba District Farmers Association, Nyimba has over 1,000 women farmers that are involved in banana production in small plantations in the area.
Yet, regardless of these statistics, little has been achieved to curb post-harvest food losses and lack of access to reliable markets in Nyimba in many years.
With better market, better storage value addition and technology, rural farmers could have a chance to develop high-profit products and transform their livelihoods.
Nyimba District Commissioner Peter Kaisa says bananas in Nyimba have high potential and the production can effectively contribute to economic growth in the country as well as alleviate poverty among the people of Nyimba.For Colonel Kaisa, value addition to bananas is the best way of reshaping production.
He says the district is seeking ways and avenues of how local farmers could get to process the bananas into various products and retail them.
“We have a lot of bananas that go to waste due to lack of post-harvest storage facilities. On our own, we cannot manage, we need people to assist us invest in appropriate technology that will ease value addition,”
Col Kaisa says substantial amounts of bananas are thrown away particularly during the peak harvesting season and even higher volumes incur some degree of quality deterioration leading to lower selling price.
Considering that bananas are perishable foods, Col Kaisa says farmers lose a lot especially when they are not sold on time.
“With all these challenges, we need partners that can commercialise the production of bananas in Nyimba,” Col Kaisa says.
Col Kaisa says the role of the smallholder producer is extremely important especially in Zambia in terms of creating jobs, but in order to succeed, agriculture has to be transformed.
He says what is needed is innovation and inclusion of technology into agriculture so that smallholders can see high yields and also improve their incomes, livelihoods and the economy.
Col Kaisa says public-private sector partnership is essential to improve access to markets and value addition technologies for smallholder farmers.
“The public and private sectors must work together to help us reshape the banana production here. With technology, a lot can be achieved in terms of mitigating the daily struggles that our smallholder farmers go through in producing bananas,” Col Kaisa says.
Col Kaisa says leveraging on increased investment by the private sector in sourcing from farmers responsibly provides an opportunity to integrate post-harvest losses interventions to demonstrate the business case and value proposition to catalyse system change.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, post-harvest losses is a serious problem in Africa.
The fruit and vegetable losses are estimated to be 50 percent or more.
This estimate is cumulative because losses occur at every stage of the supply chain from production to consumption.
Losses on farm level can be attributed to poor harvest practices and poor handling, and lack of timely access to the market. PUBLISHED IN THE ZAMBIA DAILY MAIL ON MAY 5, 2019. LINK: http://www.daily-mail.co.zm/need-to-reshape-banana-production-in-nyimba-district/

Nyimba cattle herders treck for water

DOREEN NAWA, Nyimba
CHANGING weather patterns are having a dramatic effect on the livelihoods of smallholder farmers in Nyimba district.
As an outsider, it’s easy to hear about lack of water for livestock.
It’s not the usual shortage experienced during the hot season in the months of September to November, shortly before the onset of the rains.
This year the shortage has come early.
According to the local people in Nyimba district, this is the worst crisis they are experiencing after three decades.
Since January this year, it has been hot and windy on most days in Chamwase village, about 50 kilometres north of Nyimba.
Personal stories about the drought by herders in Nyimba give one a picture on the importance of water.
The drought has affected people in the Chamilala, Chamwase, Machinkha, Kachele and Mvuwa area in Nyimba district.
In Chamwase village, dusty leaves swirl around Mabvuto Zulu, 40, and his colleagues as they sit under a fig tree.
The cattle herders are taking their cows to Lukusuzi River in search of water.
After a rest, they resume their trek with their animals to the river, a walk of more than 10 kilometres.
The Lukusuzi River is now the only communal source of water in this lowland area.
Mr Zulu says he is in talks with his family and may soon opt to migrate with the animals because the distance they cover is long.
He says the longer dry season and erratic rains are putting them under pressure.
At the same time, agriculture is expanding and increasing the demand for water for crops and livestock.
Mr Zulu blames the scarcity of water on climate change.
He says, “About six years ago, there was plenty of pasture and water in this area. But now seasons have become unpredictable, and this is disrupting how we feed our animals.’’
There is competition for water.
Other herders depend on boreholes for their livestock, but these are not enough.
Residents depend on the same source of water as well.
But not all herders are migrating. Ezekiel Chirwa, 39, commonly referred to as Zekia by his fellow herders, says migrating has been a challenge for him.
As they herd animals, the team usually has conversations around finding a solution to their water challenges.
“It looks like the changing weather patterns are here to stay. So as men, when we are in the bush, we usually strategise on what next because these walks are too much, they eat on our time with family back home,” Mr Chirwa says.
They want to have water in the vicinity.
He says, “I suggested the idea of digging water reservoirs in this area to trap water during rainy seasons to be used in dry spells to save our animals. And the idea was accepted.’’
One challenge is that these herders do not have resources to dig enough water points for their animals.
But the herders agreed to take turns digging the water points based on the number they chose.
“We will utilise the areas around our gardens especially during rainy season to dig water points and trap the water.”
According to Mr Chirwa, all the cattle herders in his village depend on Lukusuzi River for water for their animals.
He says water is an essential requirement for livestock business and has a significant impact on its welfare, productivity and profitability.
The dream of every cattle herder in the area is to have the water they need to sustain their cattle throughout the year.
“We know the levels of risk associated with water supply unreliability for both livestock and crops. We do not want to starve to death because animals are our lives,” Mr Chirwa says.
During the rainy season, Mr Chirwa says the water points are areas around their gardens which are usually water-logged, but now that the rains were not enough, their hope for the water points around their gardens has dried up.
“Here, the saying that ‘Water is life’ really means that if we are able to conserve even a little drop of water that we have, it goes a long way to securing the future for our families and livestock,” Mr Chirwa says.
Naison Sakala is a local livestock farmer in the same area.
He is optimistic the water shortage will end with the digging of water points.
He says many pastoralists lose up to five cows or more in the dry season.
“I had 86 cattle. I expected more by this February because the cows have calved. But to my dismay, the number is falling. I hope we shall not continue to lose animals to drought when the water points are finished,’’ Mr Sakala says.
Mr Sakala says the nearest water points are dry.
He says because of the daily graze by livestock, the landscape in the area has changed dramatically.
“As you approach small villages, there is nothing alive for as far as the eye can see. The little grass that is usually alive during this time of the year is gone, the water points are also dry. We only have the river now as the water source,” Mr Sakala says.
Mr Sakala moves with his son, James.
James is 10 years old, and he is smiling.
He is travelling with his father and other herders from their village.
The water crisis has forced James to abscond from school in an attempt to find water for home and for the family’s cattle.
Eastern Province is home to most of the country’s livestock.
According to the 2017 Livestock and Aquaculture Census, the province has 698,455 cattle. PUBLISHED ON MAY 5, 2019 IN THE ZAMBIA DAILY MAIL. LINK: http://www.daily-mail.co.zm/nyimba-cattle-herders-treck-for-water/

2018 landmark surgeries highlighted

PART of the team that operating on Mapalo and Bupe.

DOREEN NAWA, Lusaka
THE year 2018 will go down in history as one in which some memorable milestones in Zambia’s medical history have been made.
All these milestones were recorded at the University Teaching Hospital (UTH) in Lusaka.
The hospital, which until recently was segmented into five hospitals, is the country’s largest and oldest health facility.
The five hospitals created are the Women and New Born hospital, the Eye hospital, the Emergency Hospital, Paediatrics and the Adult hospital.
The year 2018 began on a challenging note when the country was expectant of the scheduled surgery of the conjoined twins, Bupe and Mapalo.
After a month into the New Year, Bupe and Mapalo, born in Kawambwa, Luapula Province, were transferred to Lusaka for further attention.
A surgery was scheduled on February 2, 2018.
And on this day a team of about 30 medical staff successfully separated the seven-month-old conjoined twins in a landmark operation done at UTH in Lusaka. The surgery was done at the Women and New Born Hospital. On this day, at about 17:00 hours, renowned Zambian neurosurgeon Kachinga Sichizya announced on his Facebook page that the operation was successful and completed at 16:58 hours.
“Zambia has new heroes! The much-anticipated first separation of Siamese twins has ended successfully after close to 7 hours of surgery. We give God the glory. Please receive our new champions,” he said, referring to the team of surgeons and supporting staff.
The team was led by Dr Bvulani Bruce and Dr Robert Zulu and the anaesthetic team led by Dr Christopher Chanda, the nursing team led by Josephine Chimpinde and Peggy Mashikati and paediatricians Sylvia Machona and Kunda Mupesu Kapembwa.
It was an operation that sent Zambians to cheers considering that the hospital had never carried out such an operation.
Updating journalists on the operation, UTH Mother and Newborn Hospital senior medical superintendent Maureen Chisembele said the twins were successfully separated.
And there was jubilation among doctors who were monitoring the operation from another room after the successful separation of the twins.
The doctors started operating on the twins at 11:00 hours on February 2, 2018.
The girls, Bupe and Mapalo, who shared a liver, were conjoined at the abdomen.
Zambian top surgeons Professor Lupando Munkonge, Dr Tackson Lambert, Dr Chadwick Ngwisha and Professor Sultanov led the team of surgeons who operated on the twins.
A few months later, another milestone was reached.
On September 14, 2018, UTH operated and successfully removed a tumour from the middle of the brain through the nose, a complex operation called Transnasal Trans-sphenoidal approach.
Dr Sichizya, who was part of the team of doctors that conducted the operations, confirmed the development.
Dr Sichizya said the operation took eight hours, describing it as a major score for Zambia’s biggest hospital.
“It is the first time such a procedure is done in Zambia as patients have been referred to India. A team of neurosurgeons and surgeons combined efforts to successfully remove a tumour from the middle of the brain through the nose, a complex operation called Transnasal Trans-sphenoidal approach. The operation, which began at 14:00hrs, only ended at 21:30hrs,” Dr Sichizya said
The operation had been conducted by a group of indigenous Zambian surgeons.
October was not just a month of freedom to the nation. It was also a month to remember for Job Kasweshi, 30, who successfully received a kidney from his brother, Tinashe.
This, again, was another successful surgery conducted at UTH.
On October 25, 2018, UTH scored another milestone by conducting a first-ever kidney transplant surgery.
With the success UTH recorded in 2018, it could ease the pressure on patients being referred to India, which is not only distant but very expensive.
Visiting donor and recipient of the first-ever kidney transplant surgery conducted at UTH, President Edgar Lungu expressed confidence that the successful kidney transplant surgery will help cut down on monies Government spends on sending people abroad for treatment.
The kidney donor, Tinashe Kasweshi, 25, a lawyer and the recipient, Job Kasweshi, 30, are siblings.
The team of doctors led by Zambian surgeon Michael Mbambiko and an expert from India successfully conducted the kidney transplant operation.
Like most professionals in many developing countries, the doctors at UTH are not exempt from some of the difficulties that are peculiar to their work.
Considering the staffing level challenges and many other challenges that the health sector faces not only in Zambia but worldwide, such surgeries being conducted locally are worthy the celebration.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), Zambia has only 1,500 medical practitioners, and faces a shortfall of 3,000 doctors.
The WHO recommends that for every one doctor there should be 5,000 patients. In Zambia, one doctor attends to 12,000 patients.
The above ratio points to consequences such as work overload due to the shortfall of physicians.
As all is done for 2018, a puzzle is yet to be solved on a three-year-old boy of Chipata who was found with 44 needles and wires and only 24 were removed and 18 remain in the body.
The boy is waiting to undergo surgery and is currently admitted to UTH.
Doctors at Chipata Central Hospital removed 24 needles from the boy’s body before evacuating him to Lusaka.
Now all eyes are on the UTH surgeons.
Giving an update on the anticipated surgery, UTH head of clinical care. At the Children’s Hospital, Musaku Mwenechanya, said the boy still has 18 needles in his body which need to be removed.
Further, Dr Mwenechanya said the hospital is still making preparations for the surgical operation as it requires specialised doctors and equipment to conduct the surgery.PUBLISHED IN THE ZAMBIA DAILY MAIL ON JANUARY 4, 2019. LINK: http://www.daily-mail.co.zm/2018-landmark-surgeries-highlighted/

Agriculture diversification: Missing link

CHILANGA ward councillor Misheck Mweemba applying manure in a field in Shimabala, Kafue district. PICTURE: DOREEN NAWA

DOREEN NAWA, Kafue
IN the Seventh National Development Plan (7NDP), agriculture development is considered the engine for economic growth in Zambia, and a key determinant in the country’s efforts to reduce poverty.
However, productivity in the agriculture sector lags considerably behind mainly because the rural populace, which accounts for 70 percent of the country’s agricultural production, seems not to produce enough to tackle poverty at household level.
Government has been implementing a number of development programmes and strategies aimed at improving agricultural productivity, though they have often generated weak responses.
For example, the dependency on maize production alone has been identified as one of the many contributors to high poverty levels and food insecurity among rural farmers.
In February last year, President Edgar Lungu advised Zambians to rethink dependency on maize.
“It is time farmers reconsidered their dependency on maize as a staple food and sought other alternatives. Going by what we have experienced [drought], it is time we took stock, whether maize should be the ultimate crop for survival as a people,” President Lungu said.
For almost every Zambian, maize means food.
Many homes, whether in the rural or urban areas, depend on nshima for their main meals.
It is not an understatement that in some homes, it is the only food available for all the three meals in a day - breakfast, lunch and supper.
But maize production is facing a bleak future as Zambia’s staple food not only because of the erratic rainfall that the country is experiencing, but also the high cost of producing it.
Take last farming season, for instance, when the country witnessed a long dry spell, which left some maize fields scorched.
Farmers in Zambia depend on rain to grow their crops and times like these leave them desperate and hopeless.
Zambia has other alternative crops like cassava, sorghum, millet and rice, which can be developed to constitute main meals.
But why is farmer response to diversification weak?
Evaristo Banda, 66, a small-scale farmer in Rufunsa district, says the main problem farmers face in adjusting from maize to other cereals is the lack of technical advice and knowledge on how to go about the production of alternative crops.
Mr Banda attributes the lack of knowledge to the absence of response from agricultural extension and advisory services in his area.
“I know [about] the advice from President Lungu early last year, but farmers have no guidance on how to go about it because of the absence of technical advice from extension officers. For this, I blame the extension officers for their failure to address the diverse farmers’ needs and demands,” Mr Banda says.
Mr Banda knows that farmers countrywide have not adapted to climatic and other risks, hence the urgent need for diversifying their farming activities.
“We know the need to diversify but we cannot explore it on our own. We need assistance through research and surveys to determine what crop to grow and at what time. Such information is missing and is the major setback to our graduation from maize to other cereal crops,” Mr Banda says.
He says the relationship between farming diversity and food security has potential to change the current face of agriculture in the country.
Another small-scale farmer, Christine Singoyi, 46 of Shimabala area in Kafue knows that crop diversification has potential to grow agricultural productivity.
Mrs Singoyi says the missing link between small-scale farmers and agriculture extension officers is a drawback in the progress of farming systems in Zambia.
“We know of the cost of just growing one crop like maize both in nutrition and monetary terms but as small scale farmers. We need programmes that promote sustainable land use management practices in order to nurture our soils, but people to give us this information are not there,” Mrs Banda says.
Studies indicate that agricultural diversification increases resilience, helps farmers to reduce climatic and economic risks, enhances productivity and creates food and nutrition security.
The International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) recently conducted a research in Zambia on the need for small-scale farmers to diversify crop production as opposed to depending on maize alone.
IIED senior researcher Seth Cook notes that diversity is a key element not only to food production but also of healthy, high-quality diets.
According to the research findings, diverse agricultural production will contribute to dietary diversity in farm households in Zambia.
“In addition, studies have found stronger links between agricultural biodiversity and dietary diversity in female-headed households than those headed by males. There is also evidence that when women have control over resources such as land and money, it leads to greater allocations of household resources for food. Empowering women is clearly key,” Mr Cook says.
Mr Cook says failure to diversify threatens food production and dietary patterns in Zambia. He notes that food diversity is at risk because of various factors, among them the diminishing number of crops on farms.
He is hopeful that one day diversity on the farm will lead to diversity on the plate.
Mr Cook says the way forward to diversity is to protect and strengthen the knowledge and cultural practices that support diverse food systems, adding that a multi-stakeholder approach can help to achieve diversity and build upon citizens’ knowledge and practices. PUBLISHED ON JANUARY 9, 2019. LINK: http://www.daily-mail.co.zm/agriculture-diversification-missing-link/