GOATS OF SUCCESS. SCRALA GOATS NEVER DIE!

By Elvis Milambo

ESTELLE Daka aged 46, lives in a hilly region in Njelama village of Kacholola, 300 kilometers east of the capital Lusaka.

She is among a cohort of successful female livestock farmers that received goats through the Strengthening Climate Resilience of Agricultural livelihoods in Agro-Ecological Regions I and II in Zambia (SCRALA) project in Nyimba district, Eastern province three years ago.

Shereared them for a year and passed on the parent stock to another beneficiary farmer in the region when her goats had multiplied. I recently visited her goat farm in this picturesque mountainous village to find out how the goat rearing project is impacting her life. I was greeted with ubiquitous bleating of goats as I entered the village.

“I received four female goats and one he-goat from the SCRALA project but my goats have increased tremendously, allowing my household income to increase. I paid school fees for my children and they completed high school without debt. Goats give us a rich source of protein (meat). I currently have 20 goats left after selling some to generate income. Goat rearing really empowers us women,” said Estelle Daka as she dished out grain to her goats.

Estelleand several other women on the SCRALA project have increased their income which has further led to increased access to assets and other services that were previously male dominated.

And because a woman with increased income is a very productive woman, most women tend to acquire more land to increase their agricultural productivity further increasing their resilience in the event of climatological disasters.

Acting Provincial Agricultural Coordinator, Ms. Bisa Bwalya points out that “through the alternative livelihoods, beneficiary farmers have alternative sources of income and food further building resilience to climate change, such that in the event of a drought and the farmer experiences crop failure, they can easily fall back on the animals as a source of income.”

Consistently putting these alternative livelihood activities into practice by farmers reduces poverty in the long run and contributes to the global goal of reducing poverty as envisioned by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs).Goat rearing is also creating business opportunities and enriching other industries in the value chain especially those involved in value addition such as processing goat meat into sausage and other products. Mbuzi  Kavuma meat processing cooperative is one such company that is benefiting from locally reared goats in the district.

“Our cooperative is able to buy about 20 goats at once from a farmer and we can buy goats from any farmer although our primary target are farmers under the project in our cooperative. There is huge demand for sausage made from goat meat, so we are providing a reliable market to our local goat farmers around Nyimba but weare also getting required quality raw material to produce goat sausage from these local livestock farmers,” says Mr. Kangachepe Tembo, chairperson for Mbuzi Kavuma Meat Processing Cooperative, some 20 kilometers away from Nyimbaboma.

Another livestock farmer who is enjoying the benefits of income diversification is Mr. George Lungu who lives in Lwamba camp, about 28 kilometres further east of Nyimba town. Like Estelle Daka, he also received five goats from SCRALA butt hey have now multiplied, further allowing the farmer to diversify. This year, Mr. Lungu harvested plenty of maize but he is still keeping his maize until the commodity price goes up to substantially give the farmer a good profit margin.

“I am not under any pressure to sell my maize grain cheaply because I have diversified my income sources being a SCRALA beneficiary farmer. This allows me to have financial security, food security and sustainable agriculture methods that enrich me in the long term. You can see my maize barns are still full of grain,” explained Mr. Lungu.

The farmer has diversified his income to include goat rearing, crop farming, and maize milling among others.

He is urging beneficiary farmers to diversify for improved and resilient lives. Diversification of income sources builds resilience. If one income stream is affected by extreme weather conditions, as seen recently due to climate change, the other income streams should absorb the shocks.

With100 goats distributed in each agricultural camp, current population has increased to an average of 500 goats in beneficiary camps, with Lwamba camprecording 530 goats representing a staggering 500 percent growth of goat population in the district. I asked farmers how and why the population of goats is rising at a phenomenal rate.

The answer was a resounding Nyimba SCRALA adage, “mbuzi za SCRALA sizikufa,” which means “SCRALA goats never die.” What this means is that, every goat beneficiary who receives five goats should also pass on five goats to other beneficiaries when the time is due without giving excuses of goat deaths.

This slogan, which farmers willingly adopted, widely contributes to the success ratein increasing the number of goats and beneficiaries.

Additionally, goat farmers have also pooled resources together to enable them access services of veterinary specialists and drugs in the event of disease occurrence among their flock. To that effect, each beneficiary farmer contributes K120 for veterinary drugs and services. This has also contributed to low goat mortality in the district This also means that goat rearing as alternative livelihood is contributing to United Nations global goals otherwise popularly known as Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) numbers 1 ( No Poverty) and 2 (Zerohunger).

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