Update from BHW Zambia Partnership Facilitators

Key Person:  Amos Chipulu

This update has been compiled from WhatsApp messages with Amos. 

Recent Events

Rice Mill

The rice mill has been rejuvenated and has been working well for the current harvest season, starting in June.

The income for the first two months of operation was: June ZMW3,400 (US$180) and July ZMW3,240 (US$170). 

The farmers are very happy to have the mill operational again, as it is the only rice mill in Chaba. 

Farming 2026

Seminar costs of ZMW40,000 (US$2,100) were sent in July for running the farming courses as per the last report. They are currently working towards running these seminars:
- 300 people in cassava
- 85 in rice
- 60 in maize
- 40 in soyabeans farmers
- and all the old farmers for a refresher and review seminar 

Results from 2026 Season

Maize:
Amos provided us with the results of all 91 farmers in the maize growing programme. The results have been very good this year and people are very happy with the yields. The ones who did not do well, didn’t follow the new methods very well.

The average yields across all farmers was 26.7 x 50kg bags per lima (1/4 ha) or 5.35 tonnes per ha equivalent. The best farmer yielded 35 bags from the lima or 7 tonnes per ha equivalent. The least successful farmer yielded 6 bags from the lima or 1.2 tonnes per ha equivalent. Of the 91 farmers, 89 yielded higher than 20 bags per lima. A great result!

The selling price of maize this year is K347 per 50 kg bag. So, on an average of 26.7 bags farmers made ZMW9,264 (SU$490) income from farming from the ZMW500 loan, although it would need to be considered that they would use a portion of the bags for home consumption.

Rice:
This year the yield was good as they didn’t have a drought so there was enough water to fill the lake up to the rice fields. People achieved between 7 to 17 x 50kg bags of yield from the 1 lima farming area. That is between 1.4 and 3.5 tonnes per hectare equivalent, which is a plus average result for this area. 

The price of unshelled rice is 375 for a 40 kg bag, so potential income on an average of 12 x 50kg bags (15 x 40kgs) is ZMW5,625 (US$230).

Soyabeans:
The yield from the soyabeans was between 10 to 15 bags per lima. This gives 2 to 3 tonnes per hectare equivalent.  Again, a plus average result for the crops in this area.

The price for soyabeans this year is ZMW500 for a 50 kg bag. On an average of 12 bags growers make ZMW6,000 (US$315) income.

Current Loan Programme Totals

Maize farmers: 91 farmers (6 added in 2025)
Loan amount ZMW500 = total loan amount ZMW45,500
Loans repaid (10% interest is charged) = ZMW43,000 (5 people defaulted)

Rice farmers: 118 farmers (5 added in 2025)
Loan amount ZMW200 = total loan amount ZMW23,600
Loans repaid (10% interest is charged) = ZMW24,860 (3 people defaulted)

Soyabean farmers: 32 farmers (2 added in 2025)
Loan amount ZMW1,000 = total loan amount ZMW32,000
Loans repaid (10% interest is charged) = ZMW33,000 (2 people defaulted)

The maize growers repaid in cash plus 10kg of grain that they have sold to the Food Reserve Agency (FRA). That is the ZMW5,890 which will be used 50% to pay the loan officers and 50% will go back into the loan pool.

Of the 10 defaults in total, four are because they are now sadly deceased, and the other six had bad results due to poor following of the farming techniques. In total, 10 defaults out of 241 participants is a 95.8% repayment rate or 97.5% if you discount for those who passed away.

Personal Stories

Judas Phiri
Judas attended the training in Mukushi Foundations for Farming Centre in 2025 through CCCG. During the season of preparation, he had no problem with the compost and mulching, and potholes were not a problem.

The harvest was very different from what he used to have. He previously harvested 7 to 10 bags from one lima. This year he got 27 bags from one lima. The new method has helped him a lot because of the increased yield, he can now farm for himself. Thanks to Bright Hope World for what has been done for the farmers in Chaba.

Paul Chimba (photo above right)
Paul was an orphan who was helped with school requirements from Grade 10 to 12 under the CCCG programme.

After training he found land preparation was quite hard, but what helped him was mulching and weeding and he has seen an increase in his crops.

Juliet Mwansa
Juliet is a soyabean farmer with the new method through CCCG. It was hard for her digging the potholes, but she had no problem in making the compost manure.

Farming is now part of her business and having more money means her living is now being provided for.

Rebecca Katherine (photo below right)
She attended the farming seminar and new methods from CCCG. The difficult part of the method was making compost manure, due to struggling to find the inputs. She found making potholes was a lot easier than the traditional methods.

She is having more yields than previously, this year 26 bags in a lima is much more than before. This has helped the household income.

Ideas for the Future

There is a request to set up some new farmers with loans for the next season. Of note, these loans are used as a revolving credit so if farmers repay, they get the chance to receive the same loan the next season.

Increases to loan programmes requested:
Maize - 10 people @ ZMW500 each at a cost of ZMW5,000
Soyabeans - 10 people @ ZMW1,000 each at a cost of ZMW10,000
Rice - 10 people @ ZMW200 each at a cost of ZMW2,000

Total amount requested is ZMW17,000 (US$895)

Comments

I recommend we increase the budget here to enable them to add more farmers to the loan programme.