•Beans is a high value cash crop, which farmers have been growing alongside other cash crops, such as maize, cassava, sorghum and finger- millet, among others, in the province.

By HAPPY MULOLANI –

MAIZE is predominately Zambia’s cash crop and this situation has affected the development of the agricultural sector due to lack of diversification.
The tendency to depend on the same crop all the way has shown signs of failure because of a various factors which include climatic conditions.
It is against this background that farmers are encouraged to diversify because of amass benefits of having a different crop.
Diversification reduces the need for nitrogen fertilizer but increases soil fertility because of crop rotation.
The practice tends to reduce erosion and increase yields.
Diversification also can provide habitat for beneficial insects and reduces pest numbers by rendering host crops less apparent for colonization by pests.
The practice increases economic stability by reducing financial risk, stabilising farm income, and increasing choice of farm practices.
Social benefits from diversification result from the opportunity to stabilize employment through an extended on farm work season.
However, small scale farmers in Kasama are beginning to diversify from the traditional maize cultivation to beans.
Kasama district is a high rainfall area with approximately 1,200mm of rainfall, and is endowed with abundant arable land and perennial streams.
It is situated in the Northern Province and is the provincial headquarters of the province.
Apparently, Kasama district is one of the nine districts in the province and it turns out that, beans is grown predominantly in almost all the districts.
It is worth noting that farmers’ engagement in beans cultivation, which is a profitable cash crop and its production has helped in making a shift from mono-cropping to diversification.
Mono-cropping, is the growing of one crop while diversification is the growing of many crops, which is an integrated approach that government has been encouraging farmers to undertake.
Beans, is a high value cash crop, which farmers have been growing alongside other cash crops, such as maize, cassava, sorghum and finger- millet, among others, in the province.
The breaking of mono-cropping, which mainly centres on maize production, has been the main crop that has been grown over the years in the province, as such beans productionhas taken centre stage as more farmers have embraced its production.
Acting Northern Province Provincial Agricultural Coordinator Charles Kapalasha said during a mid-term review meeting in Kasama recently, that although maize is the staple crop of Zambia, Northern province has been one of the major contributors to the national food basket of maize, while on the other hand, there has been an increase of beans production in the province over the years.
Mr Kapalasha says beans production in Northern Province has high production levels with about 75 per cent of farmers engaging in it.
He says farmers have had high beans production levels but lack marketing avenues.
This Mr Kapalasha says, was the more reason why programmes such as the Smallholder Agribusiness Promotion Programme (SAPP) were necessary to assist farmers’ linkage to potential markets and bulking centres.
The programme is mandated to increasing farmers’ volumes and market linkage to prospective markets, which is cardinal to the farmers’ economic well-being.
“The farmers derive profits from their beans produce, it will assist them to be able to raise funds to purchase other farming implements,’’ he says.
He cites Mporokoso and Mbala asdistricts that are seemingly high beans production areas at the moment in the province and it was encouraging that farmers no longer depend on mono-cropping but have diversified into other crops.
Mr Kapalasha says it is encouraging to see that diversifying, into other cash crops is helping farmers make profits even from other cash crops, such as beans itself.
“It is important not to depend on mono-cropping but integrate other crops in their production so as to improve markets for our farmers,’’ he says.
Senior Marketing and Cooperatives Officer Emmanuel Mulenga says the beans implementation plan is anchored by the agribusiness component and has three areas of intervention which include:
Firstly, On-farm seed multiplication, which means farmers will have to acquire certified seed as this is in a bid to improve the quality of seeds in order to improve productivity.
Secondly, focussing on bulking centres by breaking the chain oftraders and buyers that exploit farmers by offering them low prices that do not translate into tangible profits thus depriving them of expected benefits and lastly, boosting Out-Grower schemes, asthis intervention will assist farmers to have improved access of inputs to farmers in a timely manner.
Mr Mulenga points out that the programme is operating in five districts which include: Mporokoso, Mbala, Mpulungu, Luwingu and Kasama.
He says that in each of the districts, three agriculture camps are covered in terms of the programmes’ interventions excluding Mbala, as it has four agriculture camps because of the high level of beans production.
Mr Mulenga alludes to the fact that every district targets to work with 40farmers thereby creating a critical mass of 200 farmers who would have benefited from the programme’s intervention leading to a spill-over effect to other farmers as well.
He, however, pointed out that the major challenge the programme has been faced with in reaching out to farmers is that the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAL) Camp Extension Officers, who are facilitators and monitors of the farmers progression, do not have motorised transport.
“We do not have motor bikes and unfortunately, it is not easy to reach out to build capacity and train farmers as well as monitor their progression in their enterprises,’’ says Mulenga.
Chiombo Block Extension Officer Lloyd Muchindu also shares the same concerns when it comes to transport, as the major challenges and appeals to MAL and other stakeholders to assist in ensuring staff mobility is addressed if more farmers are to be reached.
Mr. Muchindu however, describes the beans production levels as quite high with production figures ranging between 4,000 and 8,000 x 50kilogrammes per year despite supervision farmers under strenuous mobility conditions.
He says there are about 2,000 farmers who are engaged in beans production presently, and his area has seen a balance between beans and maize production besides, Chiombo has been renown for being a beans production area in the district for quite some time now.
He says the only problem that farmers encounter is thatthey do not have prospective buyers to purchase their produce in bulk instead, their beans is bought according to availability of buyers and at times, they have been able to bulk and sell to traders as well as buyers mostly from Kasumbalesa, and Lusaka at low prices.
‘’With local traders and buyers, the price ranges from K12 – K25 and their markets are fragmented,’’ says Mulenga.
Sydney Musonda, a beans farmer in Chiombo area, who is Lusengwa Multi-Purpose Co-operative Secretary, says what farmers need is a bulking centring to woo potential buyers easily.
Mr Musonda says most farmers in the area have to travel lengthy distances to sale theirbeans produceindividually, hence the need for astrategically located bulking centre, which would easily lead to a readily available market.
‘’There is no strategic bulking point and again, farmers merely sale their bags of beans in smaller quantities per individual farmer, ‘’ he said.
While Financial Management Consultant John Lengwe notes during the mid-term review meeting, that there have been numerous programmes and projects in particular in Northern province, with a similar focus as SAPP but what has been left hanginghas always been the concept of sustainability, which has to be addressed before projects phase-out to avoid leaving white elephants as has been the trend in the past.
“Private Public Partnership, is therefore very necessary to enhance linkage, in order to ensure projects ideals continue even after projects phase-out, otherwise, encouraging farmers to increase their production levels is good butproduction without appropriate linkages, will not only be weak but futile,’’ says Dr Lengwe.
Thus far, with all the major entrepreneurship trainings that have been conducted to farmer groups, it is evident that what will better position smallholder farmers is strengthening linkage to prospective markets in order to guarantee sustainability and continuity. – NAIS