Community Farming

From life in zambia

Trans Africa Theological College, where we are staying, has about 3 hectares under agriculture production as a demonstration farm. We currently have a grant from CIDA to do this. My challenge is to help out in every way possible to get the farm to be profitable in the next 3 years. That is why I am here, but the farm itself is really a side story. Since beginning the demonstrations last year we have trained 150 community people. These community leaders are learning conservation agriculture techniques. Every week they come to see how we do it, in exchange we are giving them their own land that they can farm.


Outside our college and between us and the nearest compound Racecourse, there are plots where these people are practicing what they learn. The place is mind blowing with its potential. The place is transformed. Imagine your neighbours coming to your house to learn something and then you all going into business together. This is what this is like. The amazing thing is it is going to change the way agriculture is done in this region. Racecourse is a shack town. Very few houses have water or sewage, the kids play in the garbage dump. One of our workers left work early because his roof blew off the other day. He is lucky most have bags covering holes in their houses. The land we give them to farm is going to provide extra money for these people. The things they learn are going to produce more food for their families. This is what our agriculture project is doing in the short term.


This year the goal for the program is to begin setting up community farms on the traditional land in front of the college, starting a seed bank to provide quality seed for the people who need it. We will also be investigating starting a co-op to buy back the harvest this year to see if we can get a better price if we farm together. Our community classes will also train another 200 people.