27,900 FARMERS TO BE TRAINED IN CSA IN MUCHINGA PROVINCE BY DECEMBER

By SEBASTIAN CHIPAKO

CLIMATE change is a phenomenon that has hit the country and the world over adversely. Zambia in particular has experienced grave implications especially in the agriculture sector which has uncovered enormous vulnerabilities of the sector.

Effects of climate change including frequent flooding and droughts have been major occurrences over the years in our country. These have had negative impact on production and productivity subsequently affecting national and household food security. Suffice to conclude that the entire food system has had serious disruptions.

A number of responses have been propagated by government and other cooperating partners operating in the spheres of tackling effects of climate change, adaptation, mitigation and regeneration of forest cover and the environment.

One of the most recent interventions by government is the World Bank funded US$300 million Zambia Growth Opportunities Programme for Results (ZAMGROW) project which covers the entire country. This programme promotes agricultural diversification and sustainability.

In Muchinga province, the project was ignited by a training of trainers from all the districts of the province in Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) which is earmarked to be rolled out to 27,900 farmers before the end of the year.

The Trainer of Trainers (TOT) targeted officers from the districts who in turn are expected to train camp extension officers. The camp extension officers are then expected to train 150 farmers per camp.

In opening remarks of the TOT held in Mpika, Principal Agriculture Officer, Fred Chikuta, emphasised the need for districts to strive to reach and exceed the set target and give CSA knowledge to the farmers.

He explained the five year project has a lot of activities planned, which have started with sustainability and climate smart agriculture trainings this year.

Mr Chikuta stressed that if the knowledge is to be fully assimilated by farmers, there is need for mind-set change adding that increased adoption levels will be key in actualizing the set objectives of the project.

“Most of the farmers in this part of the country use Chitemene system. Farmers use a piece of land for some time and abandon it for another piece of land when it is no longer fertile.  So the soil deemed infertile could be resuscitated for further use using these techniques,” he explained.

Mr Chikuta further revealed that the province targets to train 27,900 farmers in Climate Smart Agriculture in the province before the end of the year.

One of the participants, Clive Matengo, lamented the severity of the adverse effects of climate change coupled with bad agricultural practices such as the Chitemene system.

Mr Matengo, who is District Agricultural Coordinator for Kanchibiya, explained that huge chunks of land have been left bare exposing the good top fertile soils to the harshness of strong winds and floods.

He added that the project is timely and will help in restoring fertility of soils and enhance resilience of farmers to adverse effects of climate change.

A number of these CSA farming techniques have resounding rewards in the fight against adverse effects of climate change. These, to a larger extent have fostered resilience and mitigation among the farming communities where high production is still achieved amid effects of climate change.

Another participant of the training, Angela Mtonga, who is also Senior Agricultural Officer for Isoka District, revealed that the target set is achievable despite a few challenges that have been envisaged in mobilising the farmers during this period highly characterized by mass cultivation of farm land by farmers.

Ms Mtonga disclosed that a good number of camp extension officers have motor bikes which will make it easy to achieve the set target.

She has since appealed to the ZAMGROW project to consider procuring more motor bikes so that farmers are easily reached with these important lessons.

Some of the drivers of climate change such as poor agricultural practices are embedded in people’s culture and this requires a mind-set change to fully make a shift to new and more sustainable and environmentally friendly methods.

When this is done together with the roll out of CSA techniques it could potentially reduce the impact of adverse effects of climate change among the farming communities.

The devastating impact of droughts and floods in farming could largely be mitigated through these techniques and it is highly recommended that these are assimilated in the fabric of extension service delivery so that more farmers are trained continually. -NAIS