Dorica Banda | July 18, 2024
News Brief
Nkhondola village, located about 50 km from Lusaka, has been hit hard by drought, leaving dry, barren land and few animals in sight. But in Royd Michelo’s compound, trees and crops thrive. Despite the drought, Mr. Michelo expects a good harvest from his intercropped maize, beans, and pumpkins. A farmer for 40 years, he and his family have embraced agroecology, using mulch and animal manure to restore their land. Encouraged by the village headman and Kasisi Agricultural Training College, Mr. Michelo's field now flourishes, promising a plentiful yield despite the challenging conditions.
Nkhondola village is located about 50 km from the capital city, Lusaka, in the Chongwe District of Lusaka Province. Driving through the village, one can see huge patches of land stripped bare and dry from the drought. Trees no longer dance to the tune of the wind, and few animals are in sight.
But in Royd Michelo’s compound, trees are sprouting and tall, healthy cobs of green maize dance freely. Chickens scratch the ground for insects as cows cluster in the nearby green grass and graze.
In the midst of the drought that has hit Zambia, Mr. Michelo has reason to smile. He is about to get a good harvest. The farmer intercropped maize, beans, and pumpkins in the same field, which now looks green instead of bare and dry, with velvety pumpkin leaves covering the soil.
Mr. Michelo, 67, is a farmer who lives with his wife Eliza, 52, and his six children and four grandchildren. The farmer grows maize, beans, groundnuts, pumpkins, and a few green vegetables like kale and okra on 10 hectares. He has three cattle, though he had close to 20 before the drought set in.
He has been a farmer for 40 years and mostly grew maize as his major crop. Twenty years ago when the soils were fertile, he harvested 200 bags of maize. He says that, when a particular field stopped yielding well, he simply cleared new land for planting by uprooting trees and using a tractor to plough the soils. Ten years ago, he harvested only 100 bags of maize. And four years ago, his yield dropped to eight bags despite applying adequate fertilizer.
The rains had become erratic and stopped midway through the rainy season, making the soil hot, dry, and hard to cultivate. Very few trees were left because they had been cut for charcoal. The borehole drilled 20 years ago by the government didn’t yield enough water.
Mr. Michelo was on the verge of giving up, but needed to feed and provide for his family. He decided to talk to the village headman about how to best restore the land.
Moses Katiba, 69, is the headman in Nkhondola village. His harvest was also affected by the drought, but he told Mr. Michelo about some valuable information he was given by the Kasisi Agricultural Training College, or KATC, which is about 30 km from the village.
Mr. Michelo says: “The headman explained that we needed to practice agroecology.”
Farmers in Nkhondola village are now using mulch to protect their soil and are intercropping their maize with two other crops.
Headman Katiba says: “The officers from Kasisi [also] taught us that we can use animal manure and other crop materials to generate biogas which we can use for cooking, and that it is clean energy. We want each and every home to use biogas so that we save the trees from being cut down for firewood or charcoal.”
Headman Katiba says the village had a good harvest last season, while other villages complained about the drought and poor yields. He adds: ”We need to understand that we need to take care of nature in order for it to take care of us.”
Gazing at his green field, Mr. Michelo is close to tears as he says, “I now understood that I had been farming the wrong way.” He explains: “The extension officers visited our fields and explained to us how our method of farming and clearing of land had caused deforestation and soil erosion. The officers taught us on the need to regenerate forests by planting trees and mulch the soils using plants with broad leaves and bury dry maize stalks in the soil to prevent erosion.”
Mr. Michelo says that he bought some Gliricidia sepium seedlings from the forestry department two years ago and planted them between his crop rows in an effort to restore the organic matter in the soil. He planted the Gliricidia around his field and some fruit trees near his house.
He also bought cow dung from a commercial farm to fertilize his crops and improve the soils. The extension agents had also taught farmers that animal wastes and crop residues could be used to produce biogas for cooking, and that replacing firewood with biogas would help combat deforestation and air pollution.
Now, his field looks lively and his crops dance freely in the wind. The broad pumpkin leaves cover the soil, keeping it moist and protecting it from exposure to the heat while the bean leaves climb the maize stalk, hugging it as they provide nitrogen to the maize.
Today, Mr. Michelo happily awaits his first bumper harvest after two years of improving the land by mulching, replanting trees, and mixed crop farming.
