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.
To say we are in a hicktown would be relatively well defining. The grocery store is usually a place where one can buy the things that you may need for say baking. However our store carries some produce when it comes in. They carry it….but only when it is in. Case in point, brown sugar we can get, but only 1 week a month. The good thing is that if one shops around at the other lesser known stores, that cater to the muzungu (aka whites), we can usually, with a little driving get everything we need. The danger of driving is of course driving.
Potholes and speed bumps here are known as the silent police. They keep drivers honest. There are other hazards of course like the taxi buses that stop randomly to let passengers on and off. Of course the biggest obstacles on the roads are the broken down transports that block roads sometimes for days at a time. The major highway in town here had a lane closed for 6 days before it was towed.
Being part of a hicktown isn’t all that bad. It is kinda fun to see the kinds of things one can pick up in random ways. I had a guy last week approach my car to sell me stuff and he pulls out a brand new iphone selling for- $150. Solutions have to be creative here. When you have only rocks to scratch together to make money people here get very creative, and very simple in their approach to business. In this sense business is booming in Kitwe. From leather belts, to street grub and even the occasional iphone people will sell and fix almost anything for very little. The opportunity for us as westerners isn’t just to pump badly needed money into the economy simply by buying groceries, and knockoff watches from street vendors, but also in the very simple expertise we bring to business.
One of the great privileges of teaching at the college to the students and the community leaders is the opportunity to encourage people to branch out, try new things, test niche markets, sell their produce at higher market prices. All of the basics of small business that in very life changing ways make a difference. This week I showed someone how to double their profits. By teaching good agriculture practices farmers this year will be making 5 x the profits from last year. Change comes slowly but the good thing about being in a hick town is you can see it changing.
