Agnes Chinyama is a farmer that joined the Trans African Caravan of Hope to represent the many farmers that need to be heard.
Chinyama belongs to the Chinchi Wababili Women’s Co-operative Society in Ndola Copperbelt Province. This co-operative started in 2003 with 25 members and eight years later has grown to 45 members (five of whom are men).
Chinyama and her group members face the usual challenges like poor farming inputs, disease, poor quality seeds and resources to improve their farming techniques.
These are magnified now by the changing weather patterns and the copper mining practices in the area.
Chinyama told me how they no longer have enough water for their crops and even animals and they can’t afford to implement some of the water harvesting techniques recommended to them by their Kenyan counterparts.
Rainfall is not like it used to be. This year, farmers in Zambia were left with just one rainy season. In the past they’ve been able to rely on two rainy seasons per year.
But these women are not just sitting back and twiddling their thumbs. They’ve set up a collective food store where they keep their excess food for when rains fail. This collective storage is also used to feed the children who have been orphaned in the community.
In effect, they’ve created their own social security system at the community level.
“This has been successful so far,” says Chinyama. “And it makes be proud as a mother to be feeding a motherless child.”
The Zambian government, for its part, has increased its agricultural support budget from 3% of total expenditures to 6%, and a month ago the courts charged a mining company for polluting the waters of a local river.
These are promising signs that the government is trying its level best, but of course there are limits to how far it can reallocate funds from Health and other sectors to help its people adapt to the effects of climate change.
This is why it is so important for industrialized countries that have contributed the most to climate change, to help countries like Zambia adapt to the changing climate.
