NGO targets women for irrigation
By RACHEAL MWIKISA
A NON-governmental organisation has embarked on a programme to empower female-headed households in rural areas with various irrigation system activities.
The International Development Enterprises (IDE) believes it is important to incorporate women in irrigation programmes.
“Women are traditionally responsible for carrying or transporting water for irrigation as well as feeding the family. We are empowering them with various skills in irrigation to ease their work,” says IDE country representative, Peter Elkind.
For the family to come up with any ideal crop that is needed to improve their diet, Elkind explains, it is very important for women to be involved - not only in irrigation and the labour aspect but also in the crop selection.
IDE is providing guidance to women in terms of crop selection and management, hence, the training component in the programme. Of all the equipment used in irrigation, the organisation seems to have a bias towards the usage of the treadle pump.
Though various surveys carried out indicate that small-scale farmers worldwide are the main target groups in terms of using the treadle pump, the equipment is very suitable for women. In most cases, women have been left out in such programmes yet in Zambia, they are the most vulnerable.
Although women are often left out, they need special attention because financial resources are fewer.
“The treadle pump technology is safe and healthy. It provides some good exercise and also helps to get out of weight or mass problems especially for people with high blood pressure.
“It also saves women the strain of their necks and backs when it comes to carrying 20 litres of jerricans on their heads for distances of up to a 100 metres to get from the water source to the field.”
The treadle pump is manually operated and it supplies one to 1.5 litres of water per second, making the job much easier.
In all areas where the technology has been introduced, there has been notable development in that all women involved have been able to increase their land area.
For instance, a woman using buckets can do 200-500 square metres while the treadle pump user can cover up to 2,500 square metres (five times as much) within the same given time.
And funny enough, the IDE country representative suggests that the technology has also proved to be helpful in consolidating families, particularly modern society families that are breaking apart.
“When people see it work, they bring their children or teenagers together to help their parents. And since there is something productive, schedules are worked out resulting in children learning how to contribute to the family!” he exclaims.
IDE has also extended its services in Pemba, Southern Province, and there has been overwhelming results. In the same province, about 60 farmers have received treadle pumps and pipes on credit.
“Our relationship with Panuka which is one of the villages in Pemba district, is good. We have 26 farmers, among them are women who are under the Panuka arrangement and this is in a village not far from Pemba,” he discloses.
Elkind adds that the organisation intends to take more training to about 180 women in Panuka despite being constrained by the financial status at the moment.
The programmes have also been stretched out to Livingstone, where IDE is working with Care International. The other co-operating partner is the World Vision which is working with the organisation in Southern and Eastern provinces.
The initiation of the IDE programmes in Zambia was done in partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries some five years ago. This was after it was established during assessments that a large number of small-scale farmers in Zambia could only access shallow water.
“From our achievements so far, it remains undoubtedly that MAFF was favourable in bringing IDE in. To date we work closely together including other NGOs such as CLUSA, Africare, CARE International and many more.” - Palesa
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