By Doreen Chilumbu Nawa
Growing crops all year round has been impossible for the people of Mbazima and Magugu villages in Chipata, Eastern Province. This is because the residents of this area only have one option when it comes to growing their crops, the rainy season. The idea of year-round gardening has stirred up anxiety in some gardeners because it sounds like much extra work. But they have said they are ready for the challenge.
Although it is nice to take the winter off to rest, recuperate, and have time for other things, the residents said they need to fight the hunger that ravages the areas during the rainy season when most of the farmer’s plant maize and await harvest time which is between April and May every year.
“When I first learned about the project and the idea of extending the harvest throughout the year, I was hesitant. This is because of the too much work involved in crop production here in rural areas,” Juliet Njobvu, a resident of Mbazima village, says. Mrs. Njobvu is surprised to discover that year-round gardening does not have to mean a lot of extra work.
The Centre for Coordination of Agricultural Research and Development for Southern Africa (CCARDESA) and its partners have initiated a sustainable and climate-smart project in Chief Saili’s area to promote all-year-round crop production, a trend that had never happened in the area. The project is climate-smart agriculture under Accelerating Impacts of CGIAR Climate Research for Africa (AICCRA). This AICCRA project is funded by the World Bank and is implemented by CCARDESA.
The project will focus mainly on irrigation, one of the most recommended “climate-smart” technologies. Looking at the benefits of this project, Mrs. Njobvu said it is an open secret that people are starving in the area because of the inadequate production of crops due to unreliable rains. For far too long, Mrs. Njobvu said people in her area had served as the poster child when it came to relief food under the office of the Vice President, and when one looks at the numbers, all pointed to crop failure due to unpredictable weather patterns. “In fact, by staying in touch with my garden each month and each season of the year, I will create a deeper connection to nature and a deeper understanding of my garden’s ecosystem because that is what we have learned now. I have noticed that I am so attached to each crop each time I plant my maize. I like the idea of producing food by gardening all year round,” Mrs. Njobvu said. Mrs. Njobvu is not the only one who is excited and has seen this kind of project for the first time since immemorial.
Another beneficiary of this irrigation project, Victor Tembo, said he still depends on rain to produce his food crops like maize and edible vegetables. Asked if this project means anything to him, Mr. Tembo said it is everything to him and his family. “This is encouraging after a long while of me only producing crops during the rainy season. I hope for a good harvest now that I am a beneficiary of this project by AICCRA,” Mr Tembo said. He adds: “I cannot imagine how I will be earning income from the vegetable sales which I will be producing from this garden using the irrigation system,” he said.
The CGIAR Lead Environmental and Social Safeguards Specialist Mr. Adams Kwaw said the project has numerous benefits adding that conservation agriculture, which is the epitome of the project, is a farming system designed to grow food that benefits the soil, environment, and farmers’ pockets. Mr. Kwaw told the people of Chief Saili’s area that conservation agriculture focuses on feeding people and can help prevent losses of arable land while regenerating natural resources. “The project that is taking place here in Chief Saili’s village is meant to lower the amount of soil disturbance, improve permanent soil cover, and promote crop diversification. Minimum soil disturbance refers to the notion that farmers need not till the soil but rather use planting techniques to make small slits or holes in the soil surface,” Mr. Kwaw said.
He further explained that permanent soil cover will help farmers harness natural principles and leave crop residues (such as stalks, leaves, and roots) on the soil surface after harvest. “This is another way to keep the soil covered to grow to cover crops (such as vigorously growing fodder legumes, grasses, and shrubs) during crop cycles. Benefits include protecting the soil from the elements (sun, wind, and heavy raindrops), reducing soil and wind erosion, and topping up on the organic nutrients, especially soil organic carbon and nitrogen to the soil,” Mr. Kwaw said. On crop diversification, Mr. Kwaw said this technique involves farmers rotating crops in the same field.
The CCARDESA Project Officer, Joyce Mitti said the country’s once vibrant agriculture sector is falling victim to climate change. As for Dr. Mitti, the steadily rising temperatures, prolonged droughts, and erratic rainfall threaten crop yields and livelihoods. She says the trend is likely to worsen as climate change proceeds. “Severe droughts in the western and southern provinces during the rainy seasons in 2017 and 2018 are extending everywhere across the country. Now it is not about the province. The reason why we need to have more climate-smart irrigation projects countrywide,” Dr Mitti said.
Dr. Mitti, a plant scientist by profession, said maize which is Zambia’s most cultivated crop, is a thirsty plant and a staple food hence the need to ensure that it is produced all year round, even through irrigation. She says irrigation boosts yields to between twice and four times the levels of rain-fed agriculture and could be an essential part of the solution to a shortfall in productivity in the sector. “In view of the country’s twin water calamities, too much water in some places and too little in others, this project here in Chief Saili comes at a great advantage for the people because it will give them an opportunity to have at least a harvest of crops all year-round using irrigation,” she said.
Ironically, Zambia has plenty of water. Its rivers, lakes, and underground reserves account for 40 percent of southern Africa’s water resources. But the water is not always available in the right place or at the right time. Luckily, the people of Chief Saili’s village will now be an example of what an irrigation system can do to rural lives.
The AICCRA initiative focuses on delivering a climate-smart African future driven by science and innovation in agriculture in Africa, receives support from the World Bank, and is being implemented by CCARDESA Secretariat.
The author is a reporter at the Zambia Daily Mail and an international award-winning Journalist
