ActionAid-Zambia in Nakonde district in Muchinga province has pledged commitment to helping women smallholder farmers to achieve sustainable agriculture amidst climate change.
ActionAid-Zambia Programmes Officer, Bizwell Chongo, said climate change has affected farming in different parts of the world over the years.
Mr. Chongo, who was speaking in an interview with ZANIS in Nakonde, said the situation has gradually threatened food security in Zambia.
“For some time now, you know what has been happening in Zambia, not only Zambia but other countries as well, we have been experiencing changes in our climatic conditions. For instance, at some point we had droughts and in some parts of the country we have also been experiencing flooding as well as low rainfall,” he said.
He said the ActionAid-Zambia has since embarked on training farmers in diversifying their methods of farming in order to combat the effects of climate change.
“Basically to make sure that this is tackled and dealt with, we have decided to move away from the traditional way of farming to a more sustainable resilient type of farming that is actually responding to changes in climatic conditions,” he said.
Mr. Chongo added that the activity will focus on crop rotation and cover crops that will help keep the soil fertile and reduce dependency on fertilizer.
“We are trying to build their (farmers) capacity and also just share information on the crops that can actually be grown in an instance where we have a drought or an instance where we have too much rainfall. We are also trying to shift from fertiliser which can be costly because not every farmer can afford,” he said.
He has since called on government and other relevant organisations to come on board and help in sensitising farmers, especially those in remote parts of the district, on justifiable methods of farming.
“My message to government departments such as Ministry of Agriculture is that let us see and explore avenues on how best we can work together to make sure that information on sustainable agriculture and climate change actually gets to reach our people especially in the far flung areas,” he added.
Meanwhile, Mr. Chongo has cautioned farmers against practices such as burning of fields after harvesting.
He stated that this practice destroys the nutrients in the soil.
