Key Person: Norman Tonga
On 20th March we drove to Norman's place which took a couple of hours, thankfully the road was dry enough for the journey. We met with Norman and Hilda, plus his brother Moven and Violet, to discuss the programmes. We then walked across to see the church and Norman's fields.
The season has been very good for rain meaning the farmers are expecting bumper yields. However, they are nervous as it continues to rain heavily which will affect the crops that are mature and waiting to dry on the stalks. While we were there massive flooding hit the Mfuwe region destroying many people’s crops.
There is an election in 2026, which no one seems to know what will happen, other than this year a lot of things like power have been good to try and earn votes!
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Here is the current state of the programme, awaiting harvest for the 2025/26 season.
Farmers are first trained in the Foundation for Farming principals focusing on being On time, At standard, No waste and With joy. Norman says you cannot go and play football if you have not been training, and he sees this training as vital to success for the programme.
The programme works by farmers receiving soyabean seed (Kafue seed that matures short term) that has been saved from the previous season, although this year they elected to use the funds to add another 100 farmers so purchased new seed to do so. Each farmer receives 25kg of seed which is enough to plant 2 acres (1/2 ha). They are required to return 100 to 120 kg of their harvest to repay the loan. This produce is then stored and sold mainly to Share Africa Zambia (SAZ) who are a Christian organisation from the UK who have a processing plant in Lusaka.
There are 12 agents who are given the responsibility of monitoring people's fields, giving out the loans and collecting the loan repayment produce. They are paid on commission from the amount of loans they collect to encourage them.
The repayment rates in the previous two seasons have been an issue, only 38% and 60%. The main reasons given were that these seasons were in drought, and some people being unfaithful. We discussed that this is really holding the project back. The original capital is still in play, but the results could be so much better.
For a typical farmer, there also remains the issue of market. While SAZ buy a lot of produce, they only buy from their own growers which is ok for the Co-op run by Norman with the loan repayment produce but does not include the remaining produce from growers so they still have to find a market. Farmers have been getting on average yields around 1,000 kg from the ½ ha. After repaying the loan they have approx. 900kg to sell. Some have done well with this, getting 12 to 13ZMW per kilo if they can wait until the government announces the prices for the Federal Food reserve agency, but others who cannot wait for the cash have sold for as low as 4ZMW per kilo which means there is a range of results on average from 3,600ZMW (US$187) to 11,700ZMW (US$608).
Norman and Moven are still looking for how they might be able to find more markets and help the growers get a more reasonable price.
There are some farmers who have done very well, even buying motorbikes and building houses from the soyabean business.
The 7-acre farm which is a bit far away is still being used. This last year they planted 1 acre of soyabeans which yielded ok. They achieved 647kg of crop which was sold as seed at a great price of 17ZMW per kilo, giving an income of 11,000ZMW (US$570). After paying all the costs of land prep, harvesting, sorting and bagging the remaining profit was 3,000ZMW (US$156).
This will be used to help with the orphan’s programme expenses.
They are considering trying to fence the farm and grow animals there when they have sufficient funds to do so.
Orphans ProgrammeThere are currently 23 orphans on the programme. We checked the financial records, and all is in order. They are very keen to carry on this programme as they have seen many children become self-sustaining adults.
They give examples of Elias who went through the programme from grade 1 to 12 after his mother and father abandoned him. He then went to teachers’ college and has now built his own house. And Martha who has ended up with a job in Lusaka and has managed to buy her mother a farm out in Chipata.
They continue to buy school requirements and fund boarding school fees where the orphans have to go away for secondary school.
This budget can remain the same.
The church has been having a big impact on the surrounding communities. They have managed to plant 31 churches over the years and have active evangelist courses teaching many people to spread the word of God.
The bible school called “Gen” has been going very well. They handle around 30 students at a time, who come for 1 week block courses four times in the year. They just use the current church buildings, local leaders to teach, and the students are hosted in the congregations’ own homes. Each student pays 300ZMW per term. The courses are Government registered which means at the end of the 3-year diploma or 4-year degree they have the necessary qualification to be able to pastor a church.
They have the continuing need for bibles. Bright Hope World currently funds 50 bibles per year, but they are requesting more, if possible, as too many new Christians do not have access to a Bible. They are looking into possible cheaper options of smaller bibles or just the Gospels etc. Currently most of the bibles that are funded yearly go to the evangelists but most of the 31 churches only have a handful of bibles between congregations of 20 to 250 in each church.
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Moven is running many of the programmes that the ministry is involved in, with Norman overseeing them.
They have two children, Isaac and Ngulube, both of whom are currently in school.
Moven is Norman's younger brother, but he sees Norman as his father. When Norman's parents died, he was charged with looking after Moven as his own son, even though he was very young himself. Moven was one of the first orphans to complete Grade 12 through the orphan’s programme.
In 2011 to 2014 he went to Lusaka Theological College. After completing that, he landed a job with Coca-Cola in the production factory until 2017 when he came back to Chipata with the aim to help Norman in the ministry.
Violet moved with him from Lusaka, which they all say is pretty amazing for a Lusaka lady to be happy to move out to the village.
Gift PhiriGift received 25kg of soyabean seed and harvested 30x50kg bags 1,500kg, a great result.
For maize he received 18kg maize seed and planted 0.9 ha. He harvested 70x70kg bags of grain being 4,900kg (5.4 tonnes per ha). He also managed to buy a motorbike within a year of starting the business. He would like to increase the loan to do more.
Amos planted 25kg of soyabeans and harvested 12x75kgs bags (one acre was destroyed because of drought).
He also planted 5kg of maize and used one bag of Urea fertilizer. He harvested 23 bags (they used cow manure for base dressing). Life has changed; they do not sleep hungry anymore. They rent a 10-acre farm and would like to continue. Maybe a wee loan might help.
Anderson Mbewe Anderson has been involved in the programme for three years.
This year he planted 100kg of soyabean seeds and his harvest was 15x70kg bags. The rains were not good.
Life is better from the sale of soyabeans. They have built a house from the farming project. He would like to continue with the project, but a wee loan is needed which would help a lot, particularly with some fertiliser for the maize.
Elium planted 50kg of soyabean seed but only harvested 113kgs of produce due to the drought and being on a hillside. He still wants to continue despite the setback of the weather. He wants to try 50 kg again.
Nicholas Banda (orphan's schooling)Nicholas is in Grade 7 at Chiziye Primary School. From the project he has received books, a bag, shoes and a uniform. When he finishes school, he wants to be a teacher.
Siliya (photo top right) is in Grade 10 at Chiziye Day Secondary School. He has benefited from sponsorship for the last two years and has received a uniform, bag, shoes, and books. He wants to train to be a doctor once he has finished school.
Moven’s wife Violet, who is from Lusaka, is very passionate about teaching people English, both school students and adults. She was running some classes in the local church and charging people 2ZMW per class for an hour, 5 times a week. However, eventually people did not pay so she could not buy materials to teach.
They are thinking that this is a good programme, as even the schoolteachers from the local school observed the benefit when the students were able to understand more. They are hoping even to run courses for the planted churches to help with literacy to read bibles.
They are going to work on a programme to see if this can start again.