Everyone's a Farmer

Everyone here, it seems, is a farmer farming the very food they live off of. Most Zambians outside of Lusaka, whether they are formally employed or they are a subsistence farmer, have a garden and grow their own food for household consumption (and then some for selling). This is a necessity in Zambia that I don't see in America. Even among formally employed folks, it seems salaries aren't enough to allow families to rely on simply buying household food like we do in America.

 In our village, people are growing:

• Maize (a staple food everyone seems to cultivate)
• Tomatoes
• Cassava (another staple food; they eat the leaves, locally called “katapa”, and the root, locally called “tute”)
• Rape (leafy green vegetable)
• Pumpkins (they eat the leaves and the pumpkins)
• Groundnuts (Zambian peanuts)
• And a few people are growing: watermelon, oranges and soy beans

In our village, we've also seen people keeping the following animals:
Chickens:

• These are mostly kept as a “living bank account” (as the nearest bank is in the provincial capital 110km away) and for meat during special events (very little meat is consumed in our village).
• There seems to be little knowledge in our area about exploiting village chickens for egg production to improve nutrition and (much needed) protein intake for the family, as well as to generate income. However, of the farmers we've spoken to about this, there are several that say they wish to learn. Also, the Mwense District Women's Development Association in the boma is interested in having Shaun conduct Poultry Rearing trainings for its members. So, this is one of the projects we plan to take up after rainy season, when people are not consumed with cultivating their fields and when supplies will be available for building hen houses.

Goats:

• Again, goats seem to be kept as a “living bank account” and sometimes sold for meat or eaten by the household at holidays like Christmas.
• When Shaun and I arrived in the village in October, it seemed overrun with goats. In fact, our morning wake-up alarm would often be goats mating outside our bedroom window (quite a rude awakening, I assure you). Yet, even with this seeming abundance of goats in the village, families weren't eating meat or protein- at all. We found most families were only eating cassava nshima (which is pure starch and devoid of protein, fats and most nutrients) and possibly a green vegetable (usually katapa, a cooked spinach-like dish). We didn't understand why families would choose to starve rather than milk or kill and smoke the meat of one of the many goats. Smoking the meat would allow a family to have goat meat beyond just one day (for a week or more). I'll telly ya, there were mornings I fantasized about killing a goat or two...
• Milking the goats would provide a daily source of protein, fats and nutrients missing from most children's diets in our village. Goat milk is heartier than cow milk (though there are few, if any cows in our area) and an excellent source of nutrition. Though, unfortunately, there is no knowledge here about exploiting village goats for milk (and thus cheese) production. We'd really like to show our village that they can be getting more nutrition and income from the goats they keep. We see pregnant mother goats and adorable baby goats all over the village, so we've approached goat-owners about the possibility of milking their goats for drinking and possibly selling goat milk . However, we haven't yet found anyone willing to milk their goat (or let us milk it). We have friends in the village who, although they themselves don't own goats, continue to encourage us to bring this kind of knowledge and training to the village. So we'll continue talking to farmers about this topic and see if any interest in goat milk production develops.
• And on the topic of goats... There were so many goats in the village I was reluctant to plant a garden because I thought it would quickly be eaten by goats. However, our neighbors assured me that come planting season (mid-November) the goats in the village would all be tied up. Sure enough, all the goats are tied up and don't get into people's gardens or fields. That said, people who practice permaculture (maintaining permanent gardens) must fence their gardens to keep goats out during the dry season.

Pigs, ducks, guinea fowl (although we've only seen a few of these animals).

Fish (tilapia and oreochromis species, which is what Peace Corps has placed us here in Chebele to help farmers develop)


So, back to the topic of cultivating crops...
In order to grow that food, the villagers depend on this region's naturally high rainfall. There's very little in the way of irrigation systems set up here. Villagers rely on rainwater to fill streams and rivers, which are dammed to fill man-made furrows that lead to fields, gardens and fish ponds- thus irrigating crops and filling ponds. So, the rain is basically the backbone of a villager's livelihood. More on this to come...