By THANDIWE MOYO –
IT is not always that a traditional leader hosts a farmers’ field day.
But recently, Chief Chikanta of Kalomo in Southern Province demonstrated how important local farmers have become to issues of national food security when he hosted an input finance field day at his palace.
The field day was organised by Musika, a local organisation that provides improved market access to small-holder farmers in the country.
The hosting of the field day was in line with Government policy on implementing plans aimed at increasing productivity in agriculture mainly among small scale farmers.
This is one way of dealing with prevailing economic hardships and reducing levels of poverty in the country, especially in rural areas.
The intentions of Government were demonstrated by the recent launch of the distribution of farming inputs for the 2016/2017 farming season at the Nitrogen Chemical of Zambia (NCZ).
The inputs are being distributed to farmers through the e-voucher system.
In addition to that, the Government has been promoting the use of irrigation in response to threats posed by climate change so that farmers can cultivate without entirely relying on the rain water.
However, Agriculture Minister Given Lubinda believes that agriculture is the future of Zambia and that farmers should have the attitude of working towards developing and increasing their produce.
Mr Lubinda has urged the private sector to take the lead in providing and sharing information with farmers during events such as field days and expos which could be used to discuss ways of helping farmers produce more efficiently.
“Agriculture is the future of our country, let us shift our minds from depending on extractive industries to agriculture,” Mr Lubinda said.
The minister is impressed by the willingness and attitude that some private organisations have towards helping small-scale farmers in rural areas.
One of the private sector players that is active in working with farmers and farmer groups in providing support to the sector is Musika.
The field day was attended by institutions involved in providing financing to farmers, agro input providers, agro dealers, local Government officials, community and traditional leaders as well as local farmers.
Musika is an independent non-profit organisation that supports a consortium of Lima Chuma partners, which are comprised of BASF, a Germany company providing solutions for crop protection, pest control and turf, ornamental and landscape; Omnia Fertilizer; Dupont Pioneer.
Musika engages relevant co-operatives in delivering support to small scale farmers in the country.
BASF is the world’s leading chemical company with customers in 170 countries and production sites in 41 countries.
BASF primarily consists of five main segments namely, chemicals, performance products, functional materials and solutions, oil and gas and agricultural solutions.
Lima Chuma© is a project initiated by BASF in partnership with Musika, Omnia Fertilizer, DuPont Pioneer and Conservation Farming Unit (CFU).
Pioneer DuPont Zambia Limited is a seed company, a subsidiary of DuPont Pioneer, a leading seed company with Head Office in Des Moines, Iowa USA.
DuPont Pioneer in turn is wholly owned by DuPont, a diversified giant that is registered on the New York Stock Exchange.
Musika, which is funded by the Governments of Sweden and the United Kingdom (UK), has incorporated a number of private firms to help increase the access of small-scale farmers to finance.
This programme has targeted small-scale farmers in Southern Province, but the vision is to extend this support to other parts of the country.
Lima Chuma, which means ‘cultivating prosperity’, is aimed at assisting smallholder famers become efficient and productive. The main crop being produced under this initiative is maize which is cultivated both for household consumption and for sale to public and private buyers on market.
The Lima Chuma© consortium partners include BASF, Omnia Fertilizer and DuPont Pioneer, and it is supported by the Conservation Farming Unit (CFU) and Musika.
The consortium has invested in the training and deployment of Lima Chuma© supervisors and advisors that provide general agricultural information, advisory services, conduct on-farm research and visits.
Musiska focuses its support on land rights, and KuduConsulting, which is a mainstream finance lending organisation, provides services that enable farmers to benefit by enabling them to have means of purchasing farming inputs on time.
Musiska’s managing director Reuben Banda said the Lima Chuma initiative is targeting 45,000 small-holder farmers by equipping them with knowledge of agro-business, crop marketing and most importantly, improved methods of crop productivity.
“We all know that if you want to walk fast, walk alone. But if you want to walk far, walk with others.
“So far, the Lima Chuma initiative has benefited some of the most productive areas in Southern Province such as Chikanta Village in Kalomo besides other villages,” he said.
Mr Banda said Lima Chuma was a sustainable co-operate investment of Musika’s support initiative facilitated by KuduConsulting to take financial advisory and intermediation services to Southern Province farmers, especially those based in rural areas.
“The partnership shows the increasing need by different stakeholders to come together and find sustainable solutions towards challenges faced by farmers in Zambia.
“As a non-profit making organisation, our aim is to see farmers learn new methods of farming and our main objective is that of helping the famers, especially in rural areas, to develop and grow their farming activities because Zambia’s wealth relies on the development of agriculture,” he said.
Kudu Consulting senior adviser for agriculture Lance Simwanza said this year alone, Lima Chuma has given about K650,000 to farmers.
Mr Simwanza said this during the Lima Chuma input financing field day.
Provincial agriculture coordinator for Southern Province Max Choombe said despite its efforts to help farmers, the Government, on its own, cannot manage to cater for all the farmers in the country.
Dr Choombe said he was impressed to see private firms come together to help the small-scale farmers as a way of partnering with Government to achieve development.
Dr Choombe said farmers were at liberty to choose what inputs they required. He said the farmers also had a variety of agricultural schemes that could be used to help the country improve its crop yield.
“I have toured farms in Chikanta and so far I am impressed with the hard work of farmers and I thank all stakeholders involved in helping the farmers develop better methods of farming,” he said.
He said the agricultural sector had shown consistent growth over the past years and for that reason, both public and private sectors should continue working together with the farmers to further assist growth and expansion of agriculture.
Chief Chikanta thanked the private partnership initiative of Lima Chuma for providing a lot of support to small-scale farmers in his chiefdom.
He expressed happiness at the good produce that the small-scale farmers were able to come up with due to Lima Chuma’s initiative of supporting the farmers with agriculture inputs.
“Speaking on behalf of my people, we are happy with the delivery of our farming inputs that arrived on time as you have all seen. Our farms are flourishing regardless of the low rain pattern we had this year. Our produce is more than what we expected,” he said.
He said the small-scale farmers faced challenges such as lack of access to finance which prevented them from reaching their full potential. But that challenge has since been resolved through loans that were given to the small-scale farmers by KuduConsulting, a facilitator of Lima Chuma.
With the right investment and solutions to enable farmers increase the crop yield, Zambia will achieve economic growth through agricultural schemes such as those provided by organisations like Musika which are propagating interventions like the Lima Chuma initiative.