Zambia

The termites are swarming around our campsite at the appropriately named Forest Inn on the road between Kapiri Mposhe and the Tanzanian border in Zambia’s northwest.  There is a termite in my shirt and I am battling to keep them away from my computer screen.  After the first solid rains of the season the termites crawl out of the ground and these females swarm, looking for a place to make a new colony.  This typically marks the end of the dry season and the beginning of the rains.  Lately however, as we have been learning today from conservation farmer Charles Mwanyambo, the rains have been less dependable.

“I switched to conservation farming because of Climate Change” he explains, sitting in his small holding near Chomwe village.  Conservation farming helps farmers adapt to Climate Change by diversifying their crops, retaining moisture in the soil, expanding the planting season, assisting root penetration and providing greater yields.

According to Jeremy Selby of the Zambian Conservation Farming Unit, the five principles of conservation farming are:

Minimal Soil Disturbance
Farmers plow only about ten percent of their field in tight rows, years after year.  This is much less work and help the land retain biomass and fertility.

Crop Rotation
By planting a legume that fixes nitrogen in the air every other year, farmers increase yields, reduce their need for expensive fertiliser and produce cash crops like peanuts which also improves rural diets.

Retain Crop Residues
Crop residues like maize stalks are laid down between rows to help the soil retain moisture and protect it from torrential rains storms, which have become more common with the climate changing here in Zambia.

Early Preparation of Fields
By preparing fields early, farmers are more likely to benefit from erratic rainfall, and allows them to plant on time.  Studies have shown that farmers can lose as much as 1 1/2 percent of their yield per day by delaying planting.

Conservation Agriculture
By inter-cropping fields with leguminous trees, crops benefit from shading, extra nitrogen, and reduced pests and weeds.  The trees chosen are Zambian in origin and sprout leaves in the dry season, and produce seeds which are edible by both people and animals.

The Conservation Farming Unit (CFU) has been working in Zambia for 16 years, and works in a public private partnership with the Zambian Government’s Department of Agriculture.  Selby believes that conservation agriculture is partly responsible for the success of Zambia in becoming a net food exporter for the last five years.

Conservation farming can be employed on large and small farms in any region of the world.  Everyone can benefit from this farming technology that has had such a huge impact here in Zambia. Hammer Simwinga, a Goldman Environmental Prize winner who runs The Foundation for Wildlife and Habitat Conservation in Mpika agrees that Zambia has something to teach the world about living sustainably with nature, and that conservation farming can help Africans adapt to Climate Change.

Tomorrow we are heading south, and tonight, while we listen to the sounds of the cicadas and the crickets interspersed with the trucks on the nearby road, I think of the connections in Africa along highways like this, and how goods are dispersed by the trucks passing by.  Zambia’s CFU has opened offices in Tanzania, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and other African countries, spreading information that has seen tens of thousands of Zambian farmers like Charles increase their crop yields and reduce their inputs, making them wealthier and more successful, even in the face of Climate Change.

Jeffrey Barbee
November 8, 2011
Northern Zambia

Jeff with Charles Mwanyambo at his conservation agriculture farm in northern Zambia.  He had a small pilot project going for a few years and has now converted his whole farm to conservation farming practices.

Trees from the Miombo Biome in northern Zambia are under threat from slash and burn agriculture.

The terrain of northern Zambia is a mixture of rocky outcrops like these and large plateaux covered in forest trees.

Much of the land that was cultivated historically has started to return to trees as people cut the old growth forest and new saplings like these have started to regrow.

Mutinondo Forest Reserve near Mpika, Zambia.  The reserve covers an important river catchment system for the Luangwa River.

Goldman Prize winner Hammer Simwinga with some of the children of Saloma Village.

Agnus Mumbi, 60, conservation farmer and chairwoman of the Mupimbishi Women's club at Saloma Village.

Hammer Simwinga showing how to harvest seed at the  Mupimbishi Women's club at Saloma Village.

A conservation farming plot near Livingston, Zambia. Conservation farming is being rolled in all districts of the country.

Fires set to clear fields or drive out wild animals burn uncontrolled in the Southern province of the country.

Elephants graze in the future KAZA park on the banks of the Maramba River, near Livingston Zambia

Elephants graze in the future KAZA park on the banks of the Maramba River, near Livingston Zambia.

Elephants graze in the future KAZA park on the banks of the Maramba River, near Livingston Zambia.

Charles Mwanyambo at his small farm near Chomwe village.  The Conservation Farming Unit hopes to have three thousand conservation farmers in the district.

Charles Mwanyambo at his small farm near Chomwe village.  The Conservation Farming Unit hopes to have three thousand conservation farmers in the district.