ItezhiTezhi’s booming agricultural economy

By Chapandongo Lungu

Fish has for a long time been the lifeblood of Itezhi-Tezhi, an almost obscure district tucked away in the vast Kafue Plains hosting the Kafue River and ItezhiTezhi Dam. But beyond the bowels of the river and the dam is one economic activity which the locals are famed for – agriculture, especially pastoral farming, which has been practised from the beginning of times, the inhabitants believe. Itezhi-Tezhi has transitioned from the murky waters of a food deficit district only a few years to the lofty heights of food security.

FRANCIS Lubasi has in the past few years worked hard to turn around the agricultural fortunes of Itezhi-Tezhi, a district whose economy revolves around fishing.

While fishing remains central to the lives of most residents, the district is fast diversifying into other forms of agriculture, with crop cultivation being the most vibrant.

Mr Lubasi, the district agricultural co-ordinator, has not only seen the turnaround but has also been part of it. He believes Itezhi-Tezhi has potential to be the breadbasket for Zambia.

As Zambia celebrates unprecedented yields in the past two seasons, Mr Lubasi says Itezhi-Tezhi has credentials to gatecrash the party, and proudly so.

CROPS

The district was predominantly food-insecure only five years ago. It was one of the districts prioritised for food relief. Agency Adventist Relief was contracted to facilitate relief supply, especially in the hinterland where need was pressing the most.

“But production has changed, now we’re a food surplus district. In the 2009/2010 season, we produced surplus of 500,000 by 50kgs of white maize and the Food Reserve Agency bought 324,605 by 50kgs,” Mr Lubasi said, wafting through his records in his modest office.

Another page on M rLubasi’s records book shows that farmers collected a whopping K21 billion. That is a huge figure that can turn the economy of the district around.

Private buyers such as ITT Milling bought 46,000 bags from small-scale farmers. These figures are in comparison to 60,915 bags bought by the FRA and 69,000 purchased by the private sector during the 2007/2008 season.

Mr Lubasi said the marked improvement in the 2009/2010 season is due to the fact that Government entered the market early and farmers’ confidence in FRA improved.

For the 2010/2011 season, there is a forecast of 459,520 bags, showing a slight drop from last season.

“The drop in crop production is due to adverse weather conditions – floods caused by excessive rains in the first quarter and drought in the second quarter,” Mr Lubasi said.

[pullquote]Another page on M rLubasi’s records book shows that farmers collected a whopping K21 billion. That is a huge figure that can turn the economy of the district around.[/pullquote]

To avoid such pitfalls in the future, farmers have been advised to diversify, mainly to tubers such as sweet and Irish potatoes as well as cash crops such as cotton and tobacco.

And because of that, the number of tobacco farmers has risen from 80 in the 2008/2009 season to 223 in the 2009/2010 season, with a production of about 129 tonnes.

“The increase is due to attractive prices offered to farmers by an outgrower – Leaf Zambia Company,” Mr Lubasi said.

Cotton is also one of the widely cultivated crops in the district, as there are 926 farmers now compared to 526, accounting for 1,061 tonnes. Like for tobacco, the increase is attributed to attractive prices.

The boom in agriculture is credited to Government’s good policies such as subsidised prices of inputs and organisation of farmers into co-operatives.

Under the farmer input support programme, the district last season received support of 144 packs for 7,450 small-scale farmers.

Mr Lubasi said his office has organised farmers into 205 co-operatives through increased extension services and rise in other service providers such as seed and chemical suppliers.

But there is a low level of private sector participation. There are very few agro-based firms in the district, mainly due to the location.

“As a ministry, we know that it’s because of the physical location. We’re in the Kafue Flats and some farm blocks get cut off from the town from November to May. This means production areas are cut off, limiting presence of the private sector,” Mr. Lubasi said.

And because the district is new, its road network is still in a poor state, which makes service delivery a challenge. Government has, however, provided field staff and most of the camps are now manned with transport available.

Where there are challenges, Government has allocated funds to procure motorbikes.

With the immigration of farmers from Kalomo, Mumbwa and Namwala, ITT, as the district is locally called, is destined for greater heights in crop production.

The challenge now is crop storage as there are only three storage structures although there are 17 satellite depots.

He said slabs have been constructed at some satellites through the FRA and communities. About 168,000 bags are still available in some satellites across the district. This grain, he said, would be moved to safer storage sites and made available to communities-relief and cash purchases at a reduced price of K50,000.

LIVESTOCK

Livestock production has increased exponentially from 35,000 heads of cattle in 2005 to 68,000 in the last census, yet again cementing the fact that Ilas are the best herdsmen in the country.

MrLubasi said the growth in numbers is as a result of increased extension services to farmers by the department of veterinary and livestock production.

He says there is an integrated approach for enhancing veterinary service provision to traditional livestock farmers.

Under this project, which started in 2007, over K1 billion was released for implementation.

“Key under the project was implementation of early warning systems in which a radio system was established in all camps and field transport procured for both veterinary assistants and community livestock auxiliary workers,” he said.

The officers also introduced early diagnostic tests and treatment under which a mobile laboratory and a motor vehicle were procured to undertake the tests.

The last and major output was the establishment of a vector control and handling facilities under which six dip tanks were constructed – one in each chiefdom. Six crush pens and loading bays were constructed alongside the dip tanks.

These, he said, have helped reduce tick-borne diseases and enabled officers to undertake regular vaccinations.

But the availability of livestock services such as drugs have remained a challenge as there is only one service provider (Farmers Warehouse).

The other challenge is that of disease – trypanosomiasis. What compounds the situation is that ITT is in game management area of the Kafue National Park.

HUMAN WILDLIFE CONFLICT

“There is a serious challenge of human-wildlife conflict. Communities in Shezongo and Musungwa chiefdoms have experienced serious crop losses due to elephants eating their produce. This is attributed to the large number of elephant population in the Nkala management area. This has been reported to higher authorities for intervention,” Mr Lubasi said.

FISHERIES

ITT is endowed with abundant water resources through the Kafue River and Itezhi-Tezhi lake and dam, where various species of fish breed.

People’s livelihoods are, therefore, dependent on fishing and fish trading. The three water bodies stock fish to the brim, providing protein to both locals and surrounding districts.

In order to manage fish, extension services have been established through fisheries co-management structures to community.

Mr Lubasi said communities directly monitor fishing activities. He said the fish farming practised in the district is capture fishing (open water fishing) as there are few aqua activities.

He said the bream and kapenta planted in the river and dam have continued providing alternative protein far and wide, including in Copperbelt, Lusaka and North-Western provinces.

Mr Lubasi said, however, that monitoring of fishery activities has remained a challenge for the department.

Illegal fishing methods such as using small size nylon nets have been reported although extension services have put the illegal activity under check in this district brimming with agricultural potential.