Report from BHW Zambia Partnership Facilitator

Key people: Peter Bobo Chomba and Judas Chomba 

Partner Personal Update

Peter is now about to retire from being a lecturer at Samfya Bible School (ZAM18) at the end of 2024. He has been there for many years and is now looking forward to what he will do next to look after and provide for his family.

He has a plan to start an agricultural supply shop, focusing initially on seed selling, and is trying to raise the capital to buy the first round of seeds for sale. He will make a mark up of 10% which is determined by the seed companies.

Context

Chaba, being at the top of Lake Bangweulu, is quite isolated which causes issues of poverty. Over the last nearly 20 years the group from seven different denominations of churches has been working to help bring people's lives up economically and spiritually.

The farming training that adds people each year has seen well over 400 people empowered with increases in yields and micro loans. As Peter says, “hunger is no longer the talk of the town”. The families are being empowered to feed themselves and having excess to sell means they can look after their own children and the orphans in the community instead of relying on handouts.

They have been focusing on a diverse range of crops, maize, rice (grown on the edge of the lake), cassava and soyabeans. This gives people good food security options.

There are of course, still many other people in the community that can benefit from the programmes they are running.

The discipleship programmes that have been run for the last few years have aimed to now go deeper into people’s spiritual life, to address the issues of having Christianity that is a mile wide and an inch deep due to a focus on spreading the gospel but not discipleship. The course is run in conjunction with Samfya Bible School where Peter is lecturer.

Recent Events

Peter sent us a report from the field, and Anthony Chitembala visited Chaba on our behalf in June 2024 to complete some interviews with the beneficiaries of the programmes.

Discipleship Course

Currently they are coming to the end of the second year of the third course that they have run in the Chaba area. There are three more sessions to be held in August, September and October. They have seen great results from this programme with people having a deeper understanding of their relationship with God. An example of this is the personal story from Mwelwa Webby told below. He has really grasped the reality of the Gospel and is now sharing his faith to all he encounters.

They are requesting that another programme can be started next year, this time in a neighbouring village on the island called Chilubi.  

Farming Training and Loans

In September 2023 the team trained another 60 farmers in maize, rice and cassava farming in the Chaba area. They also trained 60 more in the Mwinsa area. These people then received small micro-loans for inputs to help them start. 

They also started a pilot programme with 10 farmers to grow soyabeans. This was after Peter went to Chipata to visit Norman Tonga (ZAM23) to learn how to grow the crop.

The results show that some farmers are doing very well. The average yield from traditional farming methods for maize show results of less than one ton per hectare. As most of the farmers are using Foundations for Farming in only half of their fields as shown in the personal stories, these combined yields are showing real improvements. We have discussed with the group getting the farmers to complete their entire fields using Foundations for Farming, as they can now see the difference. Many farmers with the higher yields are already doing this.

For the soyabean programme, the result of an average yield of 1.14 ton/hectare is ok for the first year of them planting this crop in the area. An average yield can reach 2 to 4 ton per hectare. The farmers received a very good price this year for the soyabeans. The price was around K15 per kilogram, or K750 (US$28) per 50kg bag. For a farmer who harvested the average of 3 bags this gave K2,250 (US$85) income, less the loan of K1,300 giving a profit of K950 (US$36) that was mainly used to help the families with paying school fees.

They are about to run another training session for growers in August with funds sent. 

They have some requests for additional funding to add 10 extra growers to the soyabean programme, to add 10 extra farmers for the rice loans, and to top up the amount for the rice farmers' loans as fertilizer costs have increased from K550 per bag to over K880 per bag.

The cassava training and multiplication programme is going very well. There are not many requirements for this programme as after being trained and given cassava seed sticks, the following year the farmers come and supply all the needed seed sticks for the new trainees. People are very grateful for the new technique of growing, and the yield they obtain after just one season, compared to traditional varieties that are taking up to three years until harvest.

The loan programme for the farming is currently being reconciled from the end of harvest and farmers selling their produce. Once this is completed, Judas will provide the summary. 

Rice Mill and Rice Trading

The rice mill that was installed in 2010 is currently waiting for some parts, mainly some belts that are required to fix the machine. They are aiming to have the belts onsite at the end of August, when they will have some from Lusaka.

The rice trading however continues. The current year rice has been purchased and is being sold. We will get a full report from Peter once the sales have been completed. 

Personal Stories

Business Loans

Judith Chabu (pictured with Peter Bobo)
Judith is a mother of three children. She got a K1,000 (US$38) loan in 2016. As the bread winner, she engaged in a fish selling business. The business she started eight years ago has been useful to meet the basic needs of the family. Before, she used to do the business, but the loan was helpful as it added more to the capital and that in turn helped with the profits.

Cecilia Chabu 
Cecilia got a loan business of K1,000. She is a seller of fish. She buys fish from the lake shore and sometimes goes on the lake looking for fish from those who are camping. The loan has helped her a lot as she has been able to educate her three children, one being a carpenter, and two others are teachers. Apart from the business, she is involved in farming and manages 3 limas.

Maize Farmers

Grace Kalenga
Grace is a maize farmer. She has been part of the Chaba project since 2014. She has experience both in ridge maize farming and making potholes. She testifies that the Foundations for Farming practices in the holes were more helpful than anything else. She hopes to continue farming and perhaps try at some point soyabeans and groundnuts.

Benson Kabolwe
Benson is a maize farmer from Minswa. He planted a lima, and practiced two different methods of farming, ridges and potholes. Half a lima of maize was planted in the holes and on the other half he used the ridges. In the holes, he harvested 12 bags of maize and in the ridges, he only harvested 5 bags of maize. Using the holes gave him twice and more of the harvest as compared to the ridges. His challenge with the holes was that weeding was more challenging compared to the ridges. 

Ireen Chipulu 
Ireen is a maize farmer of a lima. She split the field in half, potholes and ridges. From the holes, she harvested 10 bags and from the ridges she harvested only 4 bags. Her main challenges were that the stock borer affected her maize field, and they did not have the chemicals for spraying but they tried to just go by every maize stock removing the stock boras. Just like Benson, she also struggled with weeding. 

Soyabean Farmers

Judas Chali Bobo
Judas has been on the leadership at Chaba from the beginning of the project until now. He plays a key role in the community and the project. The 2023/24 farming season saw him embark on a soyabean project with a K1,000 loan. He only did half a lima and has harvested so far about three and half bags. As a new soyabean farmer, he feels he can do better next time especially with the little experience he has. He wants to increase the space of his soyabeans from half a lima to a hectare.

Juliet Kunda
Juliet received a loan of K1,000 for soyabeans farming. She planted half a lima and could only harvest two bags. She complained that as far as she was concerned, the rain pattern was not favourable for the crop and that affected the harvest. She also mentioned that she did not have the fertilizer to add into the soya field especially as the soils are not good at all. Although the harvest was not pleasing to her, she was confident that she could pay back the loan except she was not sure how she will manage to plant the soyabeans with a yield that low and paying a loan. She wants to continue with the soyabeans, hoping that she can improve.

Cecilia Nsando 
Cecilia got a K1,000 loan for soyabeans. She was expecting to get five bags, but she could only get three and a half bags. She is a first time soyabean grower who had challenges with termites infesting her soyabean field and she did not know how to get rid of them. In the end, she lost some of the crop which is what brought her what she has (3 and half). She hopes that she can continue with the soyabeans even this year.

Extension Training

Lameck Mwaba
Lameck was trained over 6 years ago in 2018. As the extension programme is about studying God’s word and discipleship, Lameck was impacted by the training. His knowledge of God was broadened affecting his relationship with God positively. Today, he helps teach others in the church and can testify that his marriage was impacted positively.

Mwelwa Webby
Mwelwa (pictured right) is an extension programme student. He started his studies in 2023 and graduated the first year. He decided to continue in the second year with his studies. He has learnt about God much more than he did before, which has helped him build a better relationship with God. He has also learnt about anger management and has learnt to deal with hatred which he used to keep in his heart. He is helping many as he preaches the gospel, especially many fishermen that he camps with on Lake Bangweulu. Currently, he is helping some young people who are addicted to smoking and the dangers of smoking. He is also encouraging other headmen to consider the Extension Course.

Rice Farming

Chipulu Shimolo
Chipulu is a rice farmer. She has been able to get three gallons, and she hopes to get two and half more. She hoped she could get more but the lightning fire struck her field which destroyed a lot of her crop.

Sarah Mwaba 
Sarah is a rice farmer. She planted one lima and harvested four gallons. She expected 8 bags of rice. As far as she was concerned, all went well despite not meeting her target of 8 bags.

Ideas for the Future

- request to add 10 soyabean farmers to the trial programme
- request for a top up for fertilizer for the rice growers’ loans
- request to run a further church extension programme on Chilubi Island

Current Issues and Challenges

There are concerns for the rice farmers about their future because the government through the chiefs has been discussing to sell the rice fields to investors who want to take the whole area where these poor women have the fields. 

By customary law, no one can own land within the swamps and so people grow rice in fields that still belong to the chief. Unfortunately, against customary law, they are proposing the swamps along Lake Bangweulu in Chaba, and other areas are to be sold. The government, through the corruption of chiefs, are looking to do this. The group is working to see what can be done to protect the rice fields for the local community, and currently after talking to Peter he thinks the sale is now unlikely to happen because of the uproar it has caused.

There are many other women in Chaba who need the same support that the Chaba project is giving. Their desire is to increase the numbers of people they support but that will demand more support financially. They are looking at adding 20 more people to those already benefiting from the support.