Adopt Farmer Producer Concept- Copperbelt Small Scale Horticultural Farmers Urged

By Royda Chongo

The Horticultural sector has continued to play an important economic role in Zambia.  Over the years, a huge percentage of smallholder farmers have engaged in Horticulture production with the potential to produce enough vegetables for the domestic market as well as supply for export.

Horticulture is gaining prominence as Zambia strives to shift its economy away from mining which for many decades has been the economy’s backbone. The country is also taking ambitious steps to promote diversification of the economy in view of some crucial changes of commodity prices in both the local and international markets.  

Horticulture is a branch of agriculture that deals with the art, science, technology and business of vegetable and garden plant growing. It includes the cultivation of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, herbs, sprouts, mushrooms and non-food crops such as grass and ornamental trees and plants, thus making it one of the fastest growing activities in the Zambian agricultural sector.

However, small scale farmers engaged in horticulture on the copperbelt province still lag behind in penetrating the local and international market due to low production owing a number of challenges.

Copperbelt province Senior Marketing Development Officer in the ministry of agriculture Alick Chirwa advised small holder horticulture farmers to adopt the concept of Farmer Prouder organization if they are to penetrate the market. “Always strive to work collectively if you are to do more, Mr. Chirwa lamented.”  He explained that the idea is that farmers who are the producers of agricultural products form groups and possibly register them in order to enhance their competitiveness and increase their advantage in emerging market opportunities.

Mr. Chirwa who was on a monitoring tour for the Expansion of Community-Based small holder Irrigation Project- (E-COBSI) in Kalulushi District  noted with sadness that most farmers are still working as individuals, a move he called backwards in terms of market penetration and profit maximization. He added that policy makers and donors rely on farmer organizations when implementing rural development strategies though the targeted groups such as the poorer households tend to participate less in collective action than the richer ones.

And Senior Irrigation Engineer for Copperbelt province under the ministry of agriculture  Mwenya Sampule, who is spearheading the E-COBSI Project in the province, challenged farmers in the province to take ownership of the project by maximizing their profits. “This can only happen if you group yourselves and increase area under irrigation in order to produce more, he told the farmers.”  He said the Project’s goal is to see the impact felt by the whole community not individuals, hence the need for farmers to organize themselves.

Mr. Sampule explained that the project’s ultimate goal is to enhance food security of Zambia by promoting community –based small holder irrigation schemes.  “So far, farmers in all the 10 districts are on course with weir construction and we are now looking forward to production, the Irrigation Engineer noted.” He challenged farmers to take advantage of the abundance water resources present in their localities to produce more vegetables for their consumption as well as for the market in order to improve their livelihood.  He is however hopeful that the total hecterage under irrigation will increase by the end of this year.

However, although most farmers agree and welcome the move of forming farmer producer groups, their concern is that such organizations come with drawbacks such as lack of administrative capacity resulting in poor management of books which leads to issues with accountability and transparency. “The project has provided technical support through trainings; we have constructed new weirs and improved  the ones that already existed to standard and we are now working on production, Mr. Mwape of Ichimpe camp in Kalulushi narrated.” The E-COBSI beneficiary farmers have since pledged to invest in the collective action in order for them to enjoy its benefits.

The COBSI Promotion Unit (CPU) is a team of provincial officers under the ministry of agriculture set for planning and management of smallholder irrigation development schemes in the province and was in Kalulushi for monitoring of irrigation sites.

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