Struggling with low prices for their produce in the domestic market, a growing number of small-scale farmers in Zambia have managed to turn their lives around by supplying international markets.
Luke Mbewe, chief executive officer of the Zambia Export Growers Association, an umbrella organisation of small-scale and commercial farmers cultivating vegetables and cut flowers, said returns were high for farmers who targeted the international market, especially the EU. Under the Cotonou agreement for least-developed countries, the EU offers duty- and quota-free access to imports from African and Caribbean-Pacific countries.
"Many of our farmers are able to work themselves out of poverty within just a short period of time. In totality, our farmers are earning a gross income of about US$60 million every year from the exports of over 7,000 metric tonnes of fresh fruits and vegetables, and from about 4,000 tonnes of cut flowers," Mbewe said.
"Of this amount, about half is realised from fresh vegetables that we export mainly to South Africa through the Woolworths chain stores, as well as to New Zealand and the EU. The major market for our cut flowers still remains the European market, particularly the Netherlands, where they are auctioned," he said.
Joseph Mulenga, 62, took up growing organic maize, fruit and vegetables chiefly for export on his 14-hectare of land, 25km east of the capital, Lusaka, after he lost his job in the formal sector a few years ago. A huge demand for organically produced food in neighbouring South Africa has made him comparatively rich. "I now own a state-of-the-art $10,000 worth bore-hole that provides my family with clean water for home use and for irrigating the crops," he said. "I also have a solar panel system, which propels the machine to constantly supply water to the tank and to the fields without using diesel or electricity, thereby cutting on the costs."
Mulenga uses green manure, a cover crop grown for a specific period and then ploughed under to add nutrients to the soil, or simple techniques like rotating crops every other year to maximise production.
Over 75 percent of Zambia's working population is engaged in agriculture, largely as subsistence farmers growing cassava, vegetables, fruit, and maize, the country's staple crop, according to the Ministry of Agriculture.
President Levy Mwanawasa's administration has attempted to promote agricultural production to reduce the economy's over-dependence on diminishing mineral resources, but analysts say not much has been done to make farming profitable, especially for maize growers, who have had to sell their produce at low prices set by the government. In the 2006/07 harvest season, a 50kg bag of maize was pegged at a ceiling price of $9. The Food Reserve Agency, the government body responsible for purchasing produce from farmers, is often late with payments.
"Whatever I am growing and selling on this farm has a premium, unlike my friends who are practising conventional farming and, therefore, only targeting the Food Reserve Agency," said Mulenga. "While their 50kg bag of maize is sold for 38,000 kwacha ($9), as dictated by the government, I can sell mine for as much as K400,000 ($100.88) because the demand on the international market is high."
Interest rates of up to 60 percent, expensive diesel and steep electricity tariffs have also left Zambian farmers who focus on the local market with slim profit margins.
IRIN
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