Conservation: Practical solution for farmers

Threats posed by climate change, environmental degradation and food insecurity in Africa have assumed top position on the development agenda. This is because it has become essential that rural families are offered practical solutions that address these challenges through the adoption of simple aproven farming systems. Our staffer KAPALA CHISUNKA reports on how farmers who practise conservation farming in Shimabala area in Kafue have adapted to the new farming method and have eliminated their dependency on food aid and produce excellent crops despite droughts.

BEFORE Elleman Mumba was encouraged to practise conservation farming by his wife, he was frustrated by his methods because of the erratic rain patterns and continuous droughts that had adversely affected his yield.

The poor crop produce also affected his family income because there was no money for his household needs. For most of the time, Mr Mumba relied on his produce for cash while he had to feed his family from the same.

“As a farmer, regardless of which scale I fell on, it didn’t make sense that I, the producer of food, should be wallowing in poverty and fail to sustain and feed my family from the same crops that I ably grow on my farm,” Mr Mumba observed.

He said his family was so financially incapacitated that he even failed to send his children to school because every planting season brought with it more disasters which adversely affected his yield.
Mr Mumba, however, said everything changed for the better for his family when his wife, who was then employed by Programme Against Malnutrition (PAM), informed him about conservation farming and its benefits.

He fell for it and now he is a happier farmer.
Since he adopted conservation farming and crop rotation, Mr Mumba no longer worries about poor rainfall or late delivery of farming inputs such as fertiliser because by planting early, he is able to harvest enough maize, legumes, groundnuts, cow peas and pigeon peas which he sells for a profit.
His life has totally been transformed and he has been able to buy farming equipment which he hires to other farmers in his locality.

“That was a couple of years ago. Now I can manage to send all my children to school. I own a large piece of land and I have 10 cattle out of the initial four. Not only that, with the new technologies that we employ in conservation farming, we are able to harvest more than enough food to eat and sell,” he said proudly.

Mr Mumba is one of the 150 farmers practising conservation farming in Shimabala area who are benefiting from the Royal Norwegian Government-sponsored programme on conservation farming.

Through the programme, which has been going on since 1996, Mr Mumba has been trained and he has in turn trained fellow small-scale farmers in his area on the use of conservation farming technologies to minimise their reliance on the increasingly expensive fertiliser as well as regenerate rather than exploit the environment in which they live.

Norway supports the development of conservation farming in Zambia through the conservation farming unit of Zambia under the Zambia National Farmers Union (ZNFU) and the Zambian government through the Ministry of Agriculture and Co-operatives.

Recently, the Norwegian state secretary for development co-operation, Ingrid Fiskaa, was in the country and she visited some of the farmers who practise conservation farming in the Shimabala area.
During her visit, Ms Fiskaa was informed by the farmers of the successes and challenges of conservation farming and how they expect donors to continue assisting them so that poverty is completely eliminated from their communities.

After the tour, Ms Fiskaa said she was impressed with the accomplishments of the farmers and urged other farmers who were still skeptical to join their friends for the improvement of their lives.

“I am impressed with what is happening here in terms of the new farming techniques which farmers are using because it is a sustainable way of doing agriculture and it does not necessarily require expensive equipment,” she said.

Ms Fiskaa said with the emergence of climate change whose effects are being felt globally, food insecurity will be more prominent in the near future if the agricultural sector is not fully supported.
Ms Fiskaa said as long as governments do not sustain better and improved agricultural methods, it will be difficult to address the food crisis, especially in terms of sharing food being produced globally.

Ms Fiskaa said the farming techniques which farmers are using will help empower them and put them in control as opposed to having farmers who cannot afford to store food for themselves due to poverty.
She called for increased support towards the agricultural sector if levels of food insecurity and poverty are to be reduced.

Earlier, CFU director Peter Aagaard commended the Norwegian and Zambian governments for their commitment towards the agricultural sector.
Mr Aagaard said because of Government’s deliberate national policy on agriculture, many small-scale farmers have been able to develop through the promotion and adoption of conservation farming.
He said conservation farming is beneficial to both the farmers and the environment.

Mr Aagaard said farmers who adopt conservation farming reduce their costs, increase yields, improve nutrition, minimise chances of crop failure in drought years, increase profits and help improve land fertility.

“Under conservation farming, farmers use conservation tillage methods to establish their crops as well as grow legumes in rotation with other crops. Legumes, depending on the varieties grown, fix nitrogen, improve soil fertility, break soil pans and are an excellent source of protein for the family,” Mr Aagaard said.

Story:courtesy of the Zambia Daily Mail Newspaper