Quarterly Bulletin

The article is based on experiences of the people in the rural areas as collected by the JCTR Rural Basic Needs Basket (BNB) research team. It gives a picture of how families, particularly the small-scale farmers are meeting both their food and non-food needs. It also gives an indication of some of the copying mechanisms in times of scarcity. In addition, the article suggests ways of improving their lives. This is all shared by Miniva Chibuye, a part-time staff of JCTR after visiting the BNB rural areas.

It is often said that a growing agricultural sector has powerful multiplier effects on the standard of living of people in a particular nation. In actual fact, most development proponents strongly recommend that concentrating on the growth of the agriculture sector should be the first step to the development of any country.

This article has been strongly influenced by JCTR’s expansion of the Basic Needs Basket (BNB) to selected rural areas around the country. The expansion was mainly done to begin highlighting among others, the challenges faced by the majority of the Zambian     families    in     leading decent lives. Specifically, challenges they have to face on their main source of income, agriculture. Moreover, JCTR’s response in addressing specific needs of the rural areas is trying to bring to light the suffering of the many Zambian people whose presence is often ignored especially by people who are supposed to represent them. Often, these neglected people are remembered during election time, for obvious reasons!

Since 1994, JCTR has been regularly using the urban BNB as a strong tool for advocacy. This BNB gives a picture of how families are meeting their needs in food and non- food necessities. It demonstrates mainly the struggles of the poor to survive in urban areas. The expansion to the rural areas, however, is meant to enhance what is already a powerful advocacy tool for sustainable livelihoods.

JCTR appreciates the fact that it is very important to focus on rural development because the rural population exceeds that of the urban areas. About 65% of Zambia’s population live in the rural area. Furthermore, the incidence of poverty is much greater   in   rural   areas   than in urban areas – about 74% of the people living in rural areas are poor with 52% living in extreme poverty (2002- 2003 Living Conditions Monitoring Survey)

Rural areas in Zambia have a similar pattern. They are mainly characterised by lack of modern facilities such as piped water, tarred roads, provision of social services including, post office, and community police posts.

Although there is a presence of a few medium and large-scale farmers, a typical rural area in Zambia is dominated by small-scale farmers. Agriculture in the rural areas is both an income generating activity and a source of food. Most people in the rural areas either work as smallholder farmers or as agricultural labourers.

Many rural people lack basic necessities to live a dignified life and face difficulties in accessing social amenities, which are vital for a successful and decent human life. For example, they experience difficulties in accessing education, health and markets to buy their inputs and also sale their produce. 
RURAL LIVELIHOODS IN ZAMBIA

The options found in the rural area for both subsistence and income generation vary, with farming (crop production and animal), gathering, hunting, trading and craft-making as examples. 

Gathering is a seasonal livelihood   activity  since  most  of the items collected do not appear through out the year. Examples include mushroom and caterpillars (Ifinkubala). In addition, hunting as a livelihood depends on the continued existence of suitable wildlife habitats.

Animals are mainly reared on free range in the rural areas for commercial use and only consumed on occasions like funerals and big celebrations. Fishing is also an important source of both income and subsistence mainly for people with water sources close by. Of late, fishing has become unsustainable due to over exploitation and pollution of the various water sources, leading to some rivers having no fish.

Therefore, farming still remains an important source of livelihood for the rural people. Though crop production and animal rearing were identified as common types of farming in most areas of Zambia, crop production is the most popular source of livelihood.

The choice of what crops to grow however, is dependent upon what they consider as staple food in that part of the country, which would either be maize, cassava, millet or sorghum as the most popular in most parts of Zambia. Crops like sweet potatoes, groundnuts and vegetables are also cultivated.

The common practice in most rural areas is that, even crops meant for consumption would end up being sold to meet other competing household needs. Such needs include school fees, transport to major places like general hospitals, etc. The only salvation for most part of the year would be relief food from either the government or NGO.

Vulnerability to seasonality in the rural area is another intricacy that cannot be ignored. This was clearly shown by the rural people’s illustration of the seasonal calendar of food availability. It confirmed that household supplies of staple crop maize completely run out by September through to March. Unfortunately, it is during this time that most food items like groundnuts and beans are scarce.

In most communities, people survive on fruits like mangoes, wild vegetables and rodents that they can gather or hunt.

Such insufficiency also results in rationing of food where a family can only afford a meal in a day or two. “Usually, we eat Nshima in the morning so we can have energy to cultivate the land but have to go without lunch and sometimes supper” lamented a woman in one of the villages JCTR visited.

Vegetables eaten with Nshima are the main menu for most people in the rural areas. In actual fact, the  relish is  prepared as shoo (without any cooking oil or groundnuts added to it).

Apart from relief food, piecework at larger farms is one of the survival strategies people have to employ. The worst draw back is that community members engage in piece work at the expense of cultivating their own fields. “Most of the time we are left with very little energy to execute substantial work in our own fields. As of now, very little work has been done on our own land,”commented one small- scale farmer visited at the beginning of the rainy season.

The results from the above experiences are as predictable as they are devastating, less produce to last them the entire year. Hence, unless there is a drastic solution to address rural people’s misery, they are subjected to perpetual poverty.

The impact is even more on the children as they endure compound losses in terms of nutrition and health care that can impede future learning and development. HIV/AIDS has seriously escalated the problem of poverty in communities that are already poverty stricken.

There is no doubt that such extreme and unending poverty erodes the human dignity. An end to this suffering, should, therefore be part of an integral development for the nation. The only way this can be done in Zambia is by dealing with all agriculture development impeding factors. The government therefore needs to establish and strengthen agriculture supporting structures like infrastructure development.

WHICH WAY TO GO?

The first and most important factor that can help to develop rural areas in Zambia is infrastructure development, a cross cutting issue in almost all the rural areas. Infrastructure is the backbone of rural development strategies.

There is an urgent need for enhancement of rural infrastructure, specifically; construction and maintenance of roads, bridges, storage facilities like sheds and also provision of irrigation facilities.

As one senior traditional ruler put it, “a good road network is the mother of development, without which, people will continue to suffer.” The practice in Zambia however has  been to neglect  this important aspect. This has adverse consequences for the rural people as they are cut off for a good part of the year hence, stock pile all necessary items like drugs.   

Bridges are equally important. However, most structures that facilitate crossing of the river, just like the neglected roads are in such deplorable state and have become extremely dangerous to use particularly during the rain season. One of the areas JCTR visited had a bridge made of logs, which became very slippery when damp. “Sometimes we slip into the river often losing the food we are carrying even mealie meal causing more hunger for the family”,narrated a woman from one village.

To avoid dependence on rain season   for   food production,    government should invest in irrigation schemes in all rural  areas so  that certain foods such as green vegetables, tomatoes and onions can be grown all year round. Hence, this will improve food security. Adequate and efficient storage facilities need to be provided to avoid post-harvest loses.

Another entry point for development in agriculture is encouraging and strengthening the Agriculture support systems like cooperatives.

This has a number of advantages including, obtaining agricultural inputs like seeds and fertilizer at a cheaper price. These cooperatives can also    be    used   for   information dissemination and capacity building, particularly in marketing skills. A typical example is an agricultural marketing and supply cooperative that provides peasant farmers with essential pre- and postproduction services.

Cooperatives if run properly could also be used as a means for farmers to negotiate with one strong voice on the price of the commodity. In addition, Cooperatives could combine the offer and demand of their members and thus increase their bargaining power.

Further, through cooperatives, small-scale farmers can carry out joint purchasing and marketing operations and thus realise economies of scale.

     Though cooperatives have numerous advantages if properly run, few people in the rural areas can afford to be a member as there are membership fees to be paid and also shares to be bought. Many small scale farmers find it impossible to raise such amount of money.

Promoting crop diversification is another way of developing rural areas and also ensuring food as a substitute can be used especially when one crop fails. The Ministry of Agriculture in many areas is trying to encourage farmers dependent only on maize crop to also grow cassava, which is critical to most areas as it is a drought resistant crop and also cheaper to grow. Diversification also adds nutrients to the soil, hence, making it more fertile.

Only crops like cassava can save the people of Zambia from acute starvation, as it is resistant to drought and does not need fertilizer hence, very cheap to grow. Therefore, it remains a challenge to the small-scale farmers especially in areas where they are not very receptive to eating cassava to adopt the highly recommended crop for the survival of the next generation.

Good government policies to support marketing of agriculture produces will enhance diversification of food production. Crop production is dwindling since marketing of the produce is a problem for the rural dweller.

Previously, the practice of the Food Reserve Agency (FRA) has also contributed to the poor marketing system as it mainly buys maize, indirectly promoting growing of maize only. The small- scale farmers are therefore forced to sale to private buyers who usually exploit them.

One district visited in North-Western Province was discovered to produce groundnuts at a large scale, and hence, attracting buyers from both within the province and also from a neighbouring country. The farmers however, are being highly exploited by these traders.

These private traders usually come with items ranging from second hand clothes to bicycles, which the use to exchange with the produce. “1 Chitenge (priced at K12,000) would be used to exchange for a 90Kg bag of groundnuts, while a bicycle would be used to exchange for 15 by 90Kg bags of groundnuts” complained a member of the community.

These unfair trade practices systematically undermine the livelihoods of these people, hampering progress towards the country’s development in the process. It is for this reason that an earnest appeal  is  being made to the government by most small-scale farmers in the districts to buy other crops like groundnuts and not just maize. Access to proper markets is very cardinal to the success of crop diversification. Therefore, the bias of government’s crop marketing makes practicing crop diversification a mockery.

There is a need for the private sector to be encouraged to take progressive action by taking advantage of the availability of raw materials and set up value adding industries in rural areas.  For example, in areas like North Western Province, which produces large quantities of groundnuts, private investors can put up industries to process the groundnuts into peanut butter.

In addition, government should allocate more funds to the Ministry of Agriculture, while focusing more in rural areas in order to help the extension officers to operate more efficiently in terms of impacting new skills to reaching the farmers. More extension officers should also be employed to make them reach more people and provide important information like crop forecasting on time.

Also, with Zambia having reached the HIPC completion point, savings of debt servicing should also be channelled to helping  people  in  the rural areas by having early delivery of agriculture inputs and in the right order.

Through proper investment of a very small share of the country’s resources, all Zambians living in the rural areas and ultimately the effect spilling over to the urban areas would have access to adequate food, basic quality education and health facilities.

What the government should therefore realize is that, whenever a family, community or district succeeds in leaving deprivation behind, it sets off a chain reaction of improvement for people everywhere. In other words, significant advances in the welfare of the rural population in small- scale food-producing farm sectors will result into long-term development.

Miniva Chibuye
JCTR Staff
Lusaka