Canadian Jesuits International

Published purpose

This project aims to enable 100 small farmholders in the Chongwe district of Zambia to convert to organic agricultural production and end reliance on expensive and environmentally damaging chemical fertilizers and pesticides. In the long term, it is designed to improve land use management practices, increase agricultural productivity, and model the organic conversion process for Zambian agriculture in general. Also, the project aims to influence government policies to strengthen Zambia’s national policy focus on organic conversion and the expansion of conversion support programs. The project features year-round production of organic crops through rain fed and irrigated cultivation using compost made with manure from the rearing of small animals. To ensure success the project provides: infrastructural development; training and extension services for farmers; and the facilitation of farmer organization capacity building and access to markets in the nearby capital of Lusaka. One hundred farmers (50 women, 50 men) and their households are expected to directly benefit from the project (a total of 825 people including 600 boys and girls). Another 8,000 additional members of farming families in Chongwe district, who work outside the immediate scope of the project, are expected to benefit through the demonstration effect. The project aims to increase household income from higher-value agricultural products sold in the market; improved nutrition due to higher-quality food consumed in the households; and a stronger base of agricultural and organizational knowledge and capabilities. This project, designed in consultation with local farmers, is implemented by the Kasisi Agriculture Training Center (KATC), a farmer training institution dedicated to organic conversion since 1990. Canadian Jesuit Mission is to support KATC in technical and analytical capacities and strategic analysis in the development context.