IF there is something quite nagging to farmers including the small-scale and peasants, it is the way they are robbed by the people they hire to do some work in their fields.
Even if they are big time, small time or peasants, they could not afford to do everything in their fields on their own because there are so many tasks involved.
There is the question of clearing and tilling of the land, sowing and transplanting, weeding, watering and applying fertilisers.
There is also the feeding and dipping of animals if farming involves animal husbandry while there are many other tasks if farming involves poultry, piggery and goat rearing.
Because they cannot do all these tasks on their own, people have to hire others to work for them on piece work basis while they have to employ a few farm hands on permanent basis.
Many farmers, especially small time and peasant, reach the point of giving up because, apart from spending too much on inputs, the people they hire and employ have proved to be dishonest as they steal a lot that it is almost impossible for them to make progress.
A few days ago, I was at one of the makeshift taverns in Ndola’s Kaniki farming area where I have a small piece of land for gardening.
I had gone to this tavern to buy some opaque brown Kankoyo Chibuku beer which some people I had hired to help me transplant some seedlings asked me to buy for them.
While at the tavern, I decided to buy myself a litre of Chibuku to ‘quench’ my thirst.
After getting the beer, I got myself a seat near where a group of young men were seated with several containers of Chibuku.
“Teti tulale nensala elyo no munani epoli. Kwipayapofye inkoko imo nokwipika,”(we cannot sleep without eating when there is relish around. We just have to kill one chicken and cook it), I heard one of the men telling his friends.
But one of the men in the group objected to this suggestion.
“Awe. Ba boss bakali. Ngabasanga ati inkoko nashibulila bakatutamfya incito,”(No. The boss is tough. When he discovers that a  chicken is missing he will fire us).
The one who brought up the suggestion smiled as he lifted the container of Chibuku to take a long swig.
After he put the container on the table, he shook his head and commented:”Kuti aishibashani? Ninani ukamweba ati twalipayapo inkoko?” (How is he going to know? Who will tell him that we slaughtered a chicken?) asked the master minder.
On hearing this, the other man reminded him that their boss knew the number of his chickens besides knowing them by sight.
But the schemer appeared to have known what he was up to. He again lifted the container of beer and had another long swig.
When he put the container on the table, he was wagging his finger at his friend.
“Kubepesha insoka na bapungwa, boyi,” (we will just say its the snakes or eagles that ate the chicken my friend), said the man.
Framing snakes and eagles! What did this man mean? How could anyone in his right frame of mind frame a creature like a snake or bird concerning anything? I wanted to know.
I had wanted to finish my beer within a few minutes so that I could go back to the garden, but because of the subject this man had started, I thought there was need for me to delay a bit and hear more from this crooked man.
I lifted my beer mug and had a sip. It was then that the man started telling his friends his plan.
The man said although their boss knew the number of his chickens at the farm, he certainly could not dispute if he was told that snakes and eagles were killing the chickens.
“Kuti tuletobela inkoko umuku umo pamulungu. Boss kumwebafye ati insoka nabapungwa baleipaya sana inkoko,”(We can be eating nshima with chicken once a week. We could be telling the boss that snakes and eagles were killing the chickens a lot,) suggested the man.
The other men in the group seemed to like the idea as I heard one of them comment:”Uubomba mwibala alya ifyamwibala”(He who works in the farm eats farm produce).
One of the men who was talking and could have been a garden boy at one of the farms revealed to his friends how he was stealing tomatoes from his work place without his boss knowing.
The man said that he was selling more than five boxes of tomatoes and pocketing the money and that it was not easy for his boss to find out.
“Ba boss ngabaisasenda amabox 10,15 or 20 aya tomato, naine ndapitamo mu garden nokuswa yonse tomato iyo bashilemo iyapyako panono nokuisungila kumbi nabanamaliketi balishiba pantu ndabashitisha chipi,”(When my boss collects 10,15 or 20 boxes of tomatoes, I go through the garden after he leaves and reap the remaining ones which are semi-ripe. I keep them elsewhere and marketeers who come to buy know it because I sell them cheaply), said the garden boy.
Another one also added his voice and said it was the same method he was using at the farm he was working.
“Nga twaswa Chinese cabbage na rape naba boss ngabaya, tulapitamo mu garden nokuswamo imbi elyo tatulasipuleyamo. Boss teti eshibe,”(When we pluck Chinese cabbage and rape and after the boss leaves, we go through the garden and pluck more.), said another man.
The more I heard these comments, the more I felt bad because I knew I was also affected. I wished I knew the farms where these men were working because I would have reported them to the owners.
A few days after hearing these comments, I was in Ndola town centre where I met Field Simpungwe, the man I had known some time back but I had not seen in a long time.
At one time, Mr Simpungwe called me to tell me that he was a follower of this column and he had heard a lot of stories which he would have loved to share with me because they could have been good for my eavesdropping ears.
Mr Simpungwe saw me crossing the road and he stopped his posh Toyota Mark II and called me.
When I checked to see who it was, I realised that it was a very close friend of my former and late workmate and big man, who we hob-knobbed together severally.
I asked Mr Simpungwe where he had been hiding himself because I had not seen him in a long time and he told me he was around except that he was spending most of his time at the farm in Ndola’s Sakania area.
“I am around young man, but I spend most of my time at the farm,” he told me.
Mr Simpungwe told me that he had to be at the farm most of the time because the people he had employed to man it were not honest and were always stealing.
“Baleeba sana. Ngawayako kukweba ati insoka nabapungwa fileipaya sana inkoko. Bushe insoka nabapungwa kuti fileipaya inkoko lyonse? Ebalya. Na masako namabonzo ndafisanga imbwa ngashilile,” (They steal a lot. Every time I go there they tell me that snakes and eagles are killing chickens too much. Could snakes and eagles be killing chickens all the time? It is them who slaughter and eat them. At times I find feathers and bones if dogs have not eaten them), complained Mr Simpungwe.
He said he had to be at the farm all the time if he was to make progress, adding that those who were staying at their farms were much better in as far as close supervision and security were concerned.
What a coincidence!
Just a few days of eavesdropping how the farm workers reaped from what they did not sow I met someone who was a victim!
Maybe those men were his workers, I thought.

For comments:potipher2014@gmail.com.
0955929796,0966278597.