The main problems causing low food production in Zambia are: low soil fertility, low use of external inputs (fertilizer and agricultural chemicals), loss of soil organic matter, and soil structural damage due to poor land husbandry practices. Other constraints are natural disasters, (for instance erratic rainfall), limited access to capital, poor information of appropriate technologies and poor marketing arrangements. The problems that affect 90% of small scale farmers have resulted in overall household food insecurity and widespread malnutrition. In trying to solve this problem, there appears to be no other alternative other than promoting sustainable agricultural practices among small scale farmers 

 

 

　

     

     The graph below shows agricultural production of Zambia. As it shows, production of main products are below the targets.  In village, the situation is worsen. 

 

crops	Production (kg/ha)
	Average	Acceptable	Good
Maize	1,100	3,500	5,000
G/Nuts	500	1,500	2,000
Millet	400	1,000	1,500
Sun Flower	400	1,000	1,500
Soy beans	400	1,200	2,000

 

         Agriculture is the largest employer in the villages, the major source of food, income and raw materials. Therefore, small scale farmers can not achieve rural development without stabilization of their farm economy through increased agricultural production.

      How do they remove constraints of productivity such as “low soil fertility”, “low use of external inputs” and “effect of natural disasters” from their agricultural enterprises?

      The solution lies in promoting sustainable agricultural practices to overcome the above named constraints farmers are facing.

 

     Sustainable agricultural practices could be a solution for low agricultural income and food production among small scale farmers.

One of the definitions of sustainable agriculture is as highlighted below.

 

“Sustainable Agriculture is a package of agricultural practices that meets the present needs of the farm family in terms of food, fuel wood, income, etc. without damaging the resource base thereby compromising the ability of future generation to produce their needs on the same land using the same resource base.” 　　　　　　　　　　　　 （Willem C. Beets, 1990）

 

 

 

    In practice, there are several ways of implementing Sustainable Agriculture.

 

Major constraints of productivity	How to remove the constraints of productivity?
Low soil fertility	Improve Soil Fertility using organic and non organic materials, and improved cultural practices	¶  Utilize organic materials such as compost manure and green manure crops ¶  Practice suitable cultural practices such as crop rotation, improved fallow, tillage and erosion control ¶  Utilize other materials such as agricultural lime, inoculums and so on
Low use of external inputs	Utilize alternative locally available resources to reduce reliance on commercial agro-inputs	¶  Utilize manure from Livestock enterprise ¶  Plant useful agro-forestry trees for fodder and as pesticides (eg. Tephrosia vogelii) ¶  Utilize Green Manure Crops ¶  Utilize homemade natural pesticides ¶  Utilize crop residues for compost manure and as fodder
Effect of natural disasters	Avoid dependence on  rain fed maize based mono culture	¶  Expand production period by engaging in off season crop production using small scale irrigation ¶  Engage in diversified agricultural production, by practicing small scale Livestock production, Fish farming, Fruit tree production, etc.
	Use improved water harvesting techniques	¶  Improve soil structure and fertility using  Conservation Farming techniques
	Improve Cropping Pattern	¶  Split cropping period ¶  Utilize drought tolerant crop varieties

 

 

 

A good combination of agricultural enterprises will result in positive interdependence among the enterprises to the advantage of a farmer. The diagram below illustrates how input cost can be minimized at a farm that practices recycling and diversification.

 

   

 

 

 

The combination of appropriate agricultural practices results in a sustainable farming system that could support rural development.

 

        In Luwingu and Mporokoso District of Northern Province, on-farm sustainable agricultural practices and integration of farm business enterprises has become a reality among small scale farmers. With the support of the PaViDIA Project, farmers are now engaged in small scale livestock (communal semi intensive goat) rearing, communal integrated fish farming and off-season crop production (green maize production using gravity irrigation in each farmer).

Livestock waste is used in fish ponds and to fertilize maize fields. These activities have enabled farmers to widen their income source and reduce external input cost, resulting in a much more stabilized farm economy.

 

Sustainable Farming Systems can be realized through an integrated approach where a number of sustainable agricultural practices such as the ones mentioned above are combined.

Our definition therefore of Sustainable Farming System is as outlined below;

 

 

“Sustainable Farming System is a combination of practices achieving agricultural productivity in perpetuity maintaining the natural resource base by application of conservation principles.” 　　　　　PaViDIA Sustainable Agriculture Team

 

 

 

 

Sustainable Agriculture practices are realized in PaViDIA Approach, an participatory extension approach through MACO extension officders.

Details of Sustainable Agriculture practices are found in our manual.

 

Click for Sustainable Agriculture Manual for PaViDIA Approach