No Food, No Future Without a Farmer

AGRICULTURE has played a key role in kick-starting economic growth and reducing poverty and hunger in many developing countries.

Most of the countries that have failed to launch an Agricultural Revolution remain trapped in economic stagnation. But the conventional conclusion is that these states should invest more heavily in their agricultural development, and particularly in small-scale farms.

In Zambia, we are blessed with plenty of good fertile land, rivers, lakes, swamps and natural sweet water wells. In fact, the country has the potential to become the fresh fruit and vegetable basket of Africa.

But these rich resources are not used as well as they might be. That is because farming is not considered an attractive option by most people.

Astonishing enough, when an agricultural programme appears on television or radio, instead of learning something about the topic, they quickly change channels either to a soap opera or music, but at the end of the day say tomato, onion or Chinese cabbage is expensive at the market.

They can listen to anything, or conversely, say agriculture is a boring subject, yet they look forward to nshima, banana, fish, potatoes or carrots consumption. Isn't it funny?
I guess that is why Zambia National Farmers Union slogan rightly points out that without a farmer, there will be no food and definitely no future for Zambia.

Even if good prospects for economic activities exist, many people are not interested in crop growing because they see agriculture to be for the retired people and as hard work for little money.

Many young men and women are migrating to the capital city to look for work, leaving behind thousands of hectares of good, rich land that could be used for farming.

The problem is that people do not see the tremendous potential that agri-businesses, organic farming and agro-tourism offer. People lack information and awareness of how to connect technology with agri-business.

Potential
The fact that President Mwanawasa's administration has placed agriculture to be the top priority, that is agriculture has the potential to serve as an engine for achieving broad-based economic growth, diversifying production, increasing incomes as well as improving national and household food security, not every farmer has access to the Internet and is often hard to know where to turn for technical assistance and advice.

Most farmers resist new technology because they lack information. They are not told that technology has made life a lot easier today to the extent that even a challenging task like cultivation of land is made a lot easier with the use of appropriate machinery.

In recent years, rapid improvements of machinery has enabled fewer farmers to work on more land with greatly improved productivity gains.

Many places are good plantations for sugar, coffee and other crops like cotton, paprika, soybean, sorghum which do relatively well in this country and markets can actually open only if farmers produce the crops with quality and quantity.

Now that the farming season is near the corner, it is a well-known fact that land preparation is supposed to be done, but this is a matter most farmers, especially small-scale with little finances, have chosen not to follow.

Beyond any reasonable doubt, a good harvest does not only come with enough rain but always with proper planning and timely, adequate preparations.

Farmers should know what they intend to grow in a particular season, how much money is required and how much land will be cultivated. A good plan is like a map. It will guide the farmer up to the marketing season. It is said that failing to plan is planning to fail.

Up to now, most small-scale farmers have stuck with the old ways of farming where they prepare their land on the onset of the rain. It is at this stage where a good harvest begins to get compromised as a farmer is likely to be in a hurry to do a lot of things in a very short period of time.

It is practically impossible to plant early with the early planting rain to benefit from the nitrogen flush and capturing as much rainy water as possible. When it is time to weed, the farmer will be busy planting. Pest control and all the good management practices will not be done at the right time.

Several agricultural organisations have discouraged such a conventional and unprofitable approach to farming as it delays everything, hence farmers who begin late end up making a loss.

One such organisation is Conservation Farming Unit (CFU). This firm teaches and encourages farmers to start land preparation for the next season as soon as they are through with their harvesting.

"This helps them spread their tasks across the season. Getting good results in farming is about doing critical tasks in time and properly," states Peter Aagaard.

Aagaard, who is the national coordinator for CFU, says land preparations should start as early as June but those who have not started can begin now before the temperatures get high.

"Timely planting is the number one key to success and this is as a result of early land preparation," he says.

It is not easy for small-scale farmers to gain access to markets in big towns, sell their produce for a reasonable return and hold their own against imported products while at the same time satisfying consumers who are increasingly demanding in terms of quantity, diversity and quality.

Many farmers have discovered, farming is advantageous and profitable particularly when one is availed with appropriate information on how and when to venture into agricultural activities.