Report from BHW Zambia Partnership Facilitator Following Visit

Key people:  Peter Chomba
                     Judas Chomba Junior

Recent Events

COVID

Fortunately there has not been one recorded case of COVID in Chaba as of now, the benefit of being isolated at the top of lake Bangweulu. 

Rice Mill

The rice mill is still providing a great service to the community, however, there is very little profit as the costs of diesel and maintenance are high. Last year they made 817 ZMK (US$51), but this money has already been put aside to replace rollers and other parts.

Many farmers are currently growing rice only for home consumption where they would rather just pound the rice to shell it themselves at no cost. However, the mill is still helping the community enabling farmers to ship shelled rice, which is less weight than unshelled, down the lake, giving them a large saving in transport costs. 

Rice Trading

This has been going on well, providing the local farmers with an outlet for produce. This year the partnership has purchased 53 bags at 60-70 kg/bag that they will shell in October, before transporting to Samfya for packing and sale at the markets there.

Once the rice is packaged and sold, Peter will provide a report on the yearly performance. Some of the profit from this can then be used to help fund some of the projects in the current budget.

Farming Trainings

Last year they held another round of farming training for the community, as always training in rice, maize, and cassava. There is another round of trainings to happen in August this year as well.

The yields for maize were shown to us for all 106 trainees with an average of 20 x 50kg bags per lima (4 ton per hectare). This is still a good result compared to local averages of 1 ton per hectare, but the partnership is wanting to improve these to higher levels.

The loan programmes are now doing a lot better as there has been a renewed focus on discussions around this area of the programme. Judas and Brown have spent many hours on the bicycles visiting farmers to encourage them in techniques and to collect the funds. At present the records for rice and maize show around 80% have fully repaid, and the remainder are well on the way to paying off the 400 ZMK loan and 10% interest they received as farming inputs. The cassava programme is easily managed as after harvest the sticks from the plants are used again as new seed for the next round of trainees.

The idea has been expressed to create some demonstration plots to try and address some of the issues and techniques that are keeping the yields down. Peter is sure that the main issues are not making compost, lack of mulch, and rotation of crops, which all help to build up soil fertility over time. They have prepared a budget for four small plots including some labour costs that will be managed by Judas Junior, Rogers and Judas Senior ensuring all the methods and techniques are followed. The aim will be to show the locals what is possible. The cost per plot is 500 ZMK (US$31) each for a total of 2,000 ZMK (US$124).

There is also a request to extend the farming trainings into other areas around the Chaba district where the church extension discipleship programme has already been extended into these areas, and they have seen the need to train farmers in these communities as well. They are looking for people in these areas who would be able to manage much of the follow up work visiting farms to encourage them. They already have some people in mind who would be faithful to do that work. The request is for 40 extra farmers in maize growing, with a loan amount of 600 ZMK per farmer for seed and fertilizer. 

Business Loans

This programme is still working well, providing capital for 22 businesses in the area. The total fund remains at 22,000 ZMK (US$1,362) with interest being paid at 10%. The interest is used to run the programme and pay some funds to the manager of the programmes.

Church Discipleship Extension Programme

The second extension programme will be finished at the end of this year. There has been many benefits of the programme and it has been very welcomed by the people in the local churches.

The aim of the programme is to ensure that the word of God is read and interpreted well, allowing for real life change in the church members. The cry of the people is to be able to receive the word of God that is useful to them in living their lives.

The course covers reading and interpretation, but also includes modules on how the bible will affect how people do business (use of capital marketing and selling), bring up their families, relationships with others, how to preach plus many more.

The current course has seven different churches who are involved with the training, from four different denominations. In year one they have 10 sessions throughout the year lasting three days each, and in year two they have eight sessions lasting the three days. The trainers are Peter Bobo, Judas Bobo, Amos Judas Bobo Junior and Rogers.

The other benefit to the community is that many of the participants go on to attend courses at Samfya Bible School. They have requested two more extension programmes to start running in 2023. 

Current Issues and Challenges

One current issue facing the partnership is a lack of opportunities for youth in the area. Two of the past orphans who have been helped have gone on to become trained carpenters. They were trained at Lukasha Training Institute in Kasama, covering both carpentry and joinery. These youth are wanting to use these skills to help other youth in the Chaba area.

They have put forward a request to set up a carpentry training centre that will become self-funded by producing products for sale. This will include doors and door frames.

Plans for the Future

The vision has been reviewed to both extend the area of the farming training, and raise the bar higher for farmers, showing what can be achieved if all the methods are followed.

The church extension programme continues to be a valuable part of the partnership reaching out into local churches.

Comments

It was great to catch up with Peter and Judas Junior (the son of Judas). Judas Junior is now helping a lot with the partnership which is giving them more capacity, and the desire to extend the farming training and loan programmes to other areas. He is going to attend the Foundations for Farming training at GLO in the near future.