Crop diversification key to beating hunger
Published On January 11, 2016 » 2244 Views» By Bennet Simbeye » Features
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By MICHELO HIMAAMBO –

•COWPEAS can help generate significant income for farmers.

•COWPEAS can help generate significant income for farmers.

ZAMBIA is endowed with vast stretches of land suitable for agriculture and as such, the Government has embarked on a programme to improve access to inputs and finance for small-scale farmers as a way of diversifying the economy from being over dependent on copper.
In most parts of the country, especially among the rural and peri-urban populations, agriculture is a major source of livelihood.
Income from the export of agricultural products has been increasing every year.
Zambian farmers have depended on maize production year in, year out, even when the crop has shown signs of not doing well in the event of unfavourable conditions.
The southern half of the country has lately become a drought prone area, recording below average annual rainfall figures.
As a result, traditional maize cultivation in the region has become difficult and unprofitable.
Low rainfall patterns have also affected Eastern Province and parts of Western and Central provinces.
Poor yields due to low rainfall have eroded the livelihood base as well as income generation capacity among the farming communities.
The most affected are small-scale and peasant farmers who entirely depend on rainfed agriculture to grow crops.
According to the World Fact book 2001 to 2006, Zambia’s potential arable land covers 47 per cent of the country’s total land but only 15 per cent of this is under cultivation.
Crop land is estimated at 7.08 per cent of which permanent crops occupy 0.03 per cent with others at 92.9 per cent.
Catherine Bbilika, a Monze based farmer in Southern Province, is concerned about the poor rainfall which is posing a threat to food security at household and national level.
“As a matter of fact, if you look at food security, rural women are the most affected by the poor rainfall because they are the ones who produce most of the food in communities and in most cultures, the women are also responsible for collecting the water,” Ms Bbilika said.
She gave an example of her yield last year which was poor and was afraid that there could be a further poor harvest for the 2015-2016 season too.
In Southern Province, most farmers have not started their farming activities because of poor rainfall.
Bernard Mweetwa, a farmer based in the Gwembe Valley of Southern Province, warned that this year’s poor rainfall pattern would have an impact on people’s lives.
“We have had no such kind of problem before in the past but this year’s rain season is worse. We will not have food this year and I am disappointed that I planted my cotton when it rained twice but now that it has not even rained at all, my plants have died,” he said.
Mr Mweetwa warned that the country would face more economical challenges in the 2015/2016 season with regard to the problem that the farmers are facing because food would become extremely expensive for ordinary people to afford.
“In the villages, we depend on green plants that grow during the rainy season and as the next season comes, the ones we dried would have already finished and we have no opportunity to see the fresh ones and neither have we preserved any at all,” he said.
Mr Mweetwa wished the country could receive more rainfall or else his family might not survive the impending hunger as he only depended on his farming activities.
“I do not want to imagine how things will be in this country if it doesn’t start raining seriously because all Zambians depend on agricultural products and most families cannot do away with agriculture,” he said.
Mark Mweene, who is also a farmer in Chikuni area of Southern Province, said he would not plant any crops this year because he is not ready to waste his money in buying seeds that will fail to germinate.
“Looking at the pattern of this year’s rainy season, I have decided not to plant anything. Whatever will happen to me and the family God knows but I am sure I
will not do any farming this year, not any of the crops I cultivate every year, like maize, cotton and sun flower,” Mr Mweene said.
Mr Mweene sympathised with farmers who had planted and lost their seeds.
He was hopeful that the farmers would not lose hope.
Agriculture Deputy Minister, Maxas Ng’onga said there is need for farmers to diversify their activities rather than depend on maize as the only crop they could grow.
Mr Ng’onga says beans, soya beans, cassava and many other crops were a source of income that a farmer could also plant and it is more advantageous even in situations where rainfall is scanty as is the case this year.
“We have done a lot of sensitisation to farmers through our agriculture offices across the country and now what we advise our farmers is not to think that maize is the only crop they can grow because at the end of the day, the same crop which is not maize can also be sold on the market and provide income for the farmer,” Ng’onga said.
“Farmers will always be farmers, they will never be disappointed with the rain season once it gets serious in January or February.
“Already in most parts of the country, some people have started farming and whether the rains delay or not, farmers will always farm and will still harvest their crops,” he said.
Mr Ng’onga urged farmers to continue with their conviction in farming because it has not even been affected by serious droughts.
Zambia National Farmers Union (ZNFU) president Evelyn Nguleka has urged farmers in the country to diversify their agricultural production and select crop varieties that would be able to mature within the remaining wet months.
Dr Nguleka said climatic changes prevalent in the country called for serious diversification as it was becoming difficult to depend on maize production alone.
She said ZNFU and the ministry of Agriculture,  would continue to encourage farmers to diversify crops by developing farming technologies that would contribute to high productivity levels in changing times.
“The rains have just started and therefore, I would like to urge my fellow farmers to diversify their production and carefully select crop varieties which will reach maturity within the remaining wet months,” Dr Nguleka said.
With episodes of poor rainfall, the agriculture sector needs to create deliberate policies and strategies aimed at moving towards an approach that gives farmers ready access to inputs as well as a fair market for produce that is not prone to climate change effects.
Cowpeas, mixed beans and soya beans can also generate significant income if exported even within the region.
This could improve improve household income and national food security.

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