…After embracing climate smart agriculture, my family graduated from being food insecure to having extra food and income – Mpika farmer
By SIMON MUNTEMBA
SOME few years ago, Joseph Kangwa and his family were living in abject poverty and used to endure so much suffering due to a lack of stable income.
No matter how hard he and his wife tried, they could not get sufficient income from the chitemene system (slash-and-burn agriculture) and other unsustainable economic activities that they were engaged in to support their family.
Chitemene is an agricultural practice that involves the cutting of a selected wooded area by axe and burning the dried and stacked branches to temporarily improve the soil’s fertility.
They had struggled to make ends meet, not only due to declining agricultural productivity as a result of climate change, but also because they lacked knowledge of diversified livelihoods and climate smart agriculture practices.
Mr. Kangwa, 65, is a lead farmer and successful agribusiness man in Muyano Village of Chief Chikwanda in Mpika, whose journey to success has not been an easy one.
At his farm, which is located in Mutamba Agriculture Camp (about 35 kilometres from Mpika, he is practicing ventures in climate smart crop production, beekeeping, fish farming, poultry, fruit production, and more.
Mr. Kangwa is also an agro dealer who owns three retail shops where agricultural inputs such as seeds and equipment, as well as groceries, are sold.
Reflecting on his not-so-pleasant past, Mr. Kangwa said: “Life was hard when I came here (Muyano) from Mutamba Village (within Chief Chikwanda), where my parents lived. No matter how hard my wife and I tried to expand our farming land, we could not make a reasonable amount of money to sustain us; in fact, we were even failing to provide for our children.”
The soft-spoken Mr. Kangwa disclosed that he never thought that he could one day be a lead farmer and successful businessman; rather, he saw himself as a peasant farmer who literally had to survive from hand to mouth.
But everything changed for the better when he learned and adopted climate smart agriculture practices, after being trained by the officers from line ministries and Government departments such as the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock, and the Forest Department.
The Ministry of Agriculture, and the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock are the main governmental bodies engaged in the actual implementation of climate smart agriculture work, through partnerships with various international organisations such as the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
According to Minister of Agriculture Reuben Mtolo Phiri, the government through agricultural extension officers is supporting vulnerable communities in implementing diversified livelihoods and improved farming practices in order to improve food security and income generation.
Mr. Phiri explains that agricultural extension officers play an important role in providing services such as the utilisation of proper agronomical practices by smallholder farmers in the country.
“That is why, as Government, we remain committed to employing more extension officers across the country to help balance the ratio of extension officers to farmers which is currently at 1:2000 instead of 1:400,” says the minister.
Adopting climate smart agriculture practices
According to a 2021 State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World report, climate variability and extremes are behind recent rises in hunger and slowing progress in reducing all forms of malnutrition.
On the other hand, the widespread adoption of climate smart farming practices benefits the environment, boosts farmers’ livelihoods, and opens up new economic avenues.
The FAO, defines climate smart agriculture (CSA) as “agriculture that sustainably increases productivity, enhances resilience (adaptation), reduces and/or removes greenhouse gas (mitigation) where possible, and enhances achievement of household and national food security and development goals.”
Thus, CSA is simply a comprehensive strategy for managing farmlands, crops, livestock, and forests that counteracts the negative impacts of climate change on agricultural productivity.
It aims to sustainably increase agricultural productivity and incomes from crops, livestock, forestry and fisheries, without having a negative impact on the environment.
Agricultural experts say climate smart agriculture improves food security, helps communities adapt to climate change and contributes to climate change mitigation by adopting appropriate practices.
“Climatically smart agriculture incorporates practices like boosting soil carbon absorption and reducing greenhouse gas emissions to mitigate climate change’s detrimental effects and boost agricultural production and profitability,” says Muchinga Province agriculture coordinator Victor Mulopa.
Dr. Mulopa, an agronomist, explained that conservation farming specifically helps keep soils from eroding, preserve land fertility, and save local plant and animal life.
He said rotating crops breaks up pest and disease cycles and when legumes are incorporated, they help fix valuable nitrogen in the soil for the next crop.
No-till and reduced-tillage cultivation, employing crop leftovers and cover crops to keep the land permanently covered, and rotating crops are all examples of CSA techniques that are put into place to protect soil quality.
By boosting soil health, reducing erosion, and enhancing water absorption and land drainage, these methods promote resilience to climate change in agriculture.
This is very true as testified by Mr. Kangwa who happened to be one of the beneficiaries of the CSA practices, particularly conservation agriculture.
Mr. Kangwa retraced his journey, unravelling the origins of his success story and shed more light on the role the agricultural extension officers had played in improving his resilience and productivity.
“Like I said earlier on, we started farming a long time ago when I quit my job as a mechanic of motorcycles. We farmed for almost three decades here without making profits, probably because we lacked the know-how in terms of CSA practices.
“It was in 2017 when officers from the district, such as agricultural extension officer Lister Mukonka, came to train us in diversification livelihoods and improved farming practices that our door to success opened. After embracing CSA practices, my family graduated from being food insecure to having extra food and income,” says Mr. Kangwa.
Mr. Kangwa says organic fertiliser application, precision fertilising, use of drought tolerant, minimum tillage, and crop rotation are some of the climatically smart nutrient management strategies that he has been using to increase soil fertility, while reducing nutrient runoff and the emissions of greenhouse gases from synthetic fertilisers.
Instead of over-all digging, ridging or ploughing, Mr. Kangwa instead disturbs the soil only where he needs to place the seeds and inputs. By disturbing the soil less, the soil profile and health is protected for longer.
Among the many successes that Mr. Kangwa recorded after adopting CSA practices are the drilling and installation of two solar-powered bore holes and large water reservoir tanks to support gardening activities throughout the year, irrigation pipes, the procurement of fencing wire and 20 improved bee-hives that are nestled on trees within his farm.
Moreover, he expanded his fish farming project to supplement crop production, by increasing fish ponds from the initial 5 to 22 and stocking them with fingerlings.
“Now I am happy because, as a family, we have enough food that can sustain us even during drought periods. We can sell vegetables, fruits, or indeed any crop that we cultivate and buy whatever we want. Indeed, climate smart agriculture has been a door to exiting poverty for us. In fact, I consider this my life-time retirement package,” says Mr. Kangwa.
Mr. Kangwa also testified that his family has been getting high yields and returns after cultivating on the same farm where they had recorded very low yields years ago before embracing conservation agriculture practices.
When asked how much profit he makes in a month approximately, with a smile Mr. Kangwa reluctantly says: “In terms of the amount of profit we are making, I can just tell you that, for example, from each fish pond, not less than K70, 000 is realised after harvest. While for chickens, crops, vegetables, and fruits, we sell throughout the year, and we are able to buy whatever is needed for the family.”
He adds: “So, in short, from the profit made after selling fruits, crops and fish, we have managed to build the modern house you are seeing here (pointing at his house), buy a hammer meal, buy a motor tricycle to help in delivering produce at the market, and, of course, expand our business ventures.”
Climate smart agriculture knowledge sharing
As climate change continues to wreak havoc on communities, equipping vulnerable communities with skills and knowledge that can enable them to embrace new business ventures is worthwhile.
It is against this background that the government predominately concentrates on providing extension support and practical training on CSA to farmers on the ground, through a team of agricultural extension officers who repeatedly engage with a cohort of carefully selected lead farmers like Mr. Kangwa. The lead farmers in turn work with their communities to train several individuals and groups.
Thus, as a responsible lead farmer, Mr. Kangwa is sharing the knowledge and skills with other farmers in the community.
With his hard work and passion, Mr. Kangwa has managed to be not only a lead farmer and successful businessman but also an inspiration for the people in the community. He is admired for having embraced CSA and now reaping its fruits.
“I am happy that using his experience, Mr. Kangwa has helped me to appreciate CSA practices,” says one of the local smallholder farmers, Mr Nickson Chali.
Mr. Chali narrated that after learning CSA practices from Mr. Kangwa, his yields have improved for the past three years, adding that: “unlike in the past where I only managed 70 by 50 kilogrammes bags of white maize from my field, I am now able harvest not less than 200.”
Meanwhile, Mpika district agriculture coordinator Justin Ngosa who expressed happiness that Mr. Kangwa was sharing the CSA knowledge with the community reiterates that there is nothing profitable in the chitemene agriculture system, adding that it only triggers climate change.
“We are impressed with Mr. Kangwa’s success story, and we urge our farmers in the district to do away with unsustainable agricultural practices such as the chitemene system and adopt CSA practices such as conservation agriculture if they were to sustainably improve crop production and, subsequently, boost their households’ food security and income levels,” says the district agriculture coordinator.
Indeed, it is important for smallholder farmers to adopt CSA practices like Mr. Kangwa if they are to sustainably increase their agricultural productivity and incomes from crops, livestock, forestry, and fisheries without having a negative impact on the environment and natural resources.
By applying the new methods of farming that he learned, Mr. Kangwa had been harvesting well, thus increasing his income and adequately providing for his family’s needs.
With multiple income streams, families in rural communities can buy food and afford other basic needs for their children and families, irrespective of the weather patterns.
As evidenced by Mr. Kangwa’s success story, embracing diversified livelihoods and climate-resilient farming practices is a sure way of generating sustainable income and exiting poverty in the face of climate change.
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