Agroecology key to food and nutritional security

  …It brings social and environmental protection together

By Francis Maingaila

Food Agriculture Organization (FAO) Food and nutritional security are notably a complex field for social protection, which demands an integrated approach to deal with vulnerabilities related to heath, income, natural resources access and environmental protection.

Country  Director said in an exclusive interview that agroecology which is based on the application of ecological concepts and principles with the aim of optimizing the interactions between humans and the environment taking into account the social aspects that must be addressed in order to achieve a fair and sustainable food system can support not only food production but also nutritional security.

While preserving the ecosystem and biodiversity agroecology can also play an important role in developing resilience and adaptation to climate change.

PELUM Zambia, in partnership with other organizations like Zambia Alliance for Agroecology and Biodiversity (ZAAB), Caritas Zambia and many other partners is pushing for the adaptation of the agroecology farming system in the country.

PELUM country director Muketoi Wamunuima is of the view adopted will help to mitigate devastating effects climate change, which is associated with a conventional farming system.

Wamunuima said in an exclusive telephone interview that Agroecology is a form of agricultural practice that centers not only on food production but also make best use of nature’s environment and natural resources.

Wamunyima explained that industrial agriculture cannot be a solution to end hunger especially among the smallholder farmers in Zambia.

According to Wamunuima, industrial agriculture exists to maximization of production profits and farmers need big pieces of land to achieve this objective.

Wamunuima is of the view that industrial agriculture is not favorable for small scares farmers in a country where not only land but also farming inputs are very expensive to acquire.

He said PELUM is not against the adaptation of the conventional farming system by the farmers but was quick to note that system that promotes specialized farming system such as monoculture, over depending on expensive inputs is not conducive to local farmers.

He urged the Zambian Government to enact a legal framework supporting local farmers to adopt an agroecology farming system that is more friendly to smallholder farmers.

“There is a need to rethink agricultural systems that can sustainably feed a growing population and conserve the natural resource base,” ZAAB programs officer Omeri Phiri said in an exclusive interview.

Phiri observed that industrial farming promotes mono-cropping which has eaten away the forests cover, and had it replaced the country’s biodiversity with monocultures crops has led to deforestation, land degradation and water pollution as a result of inorganic fertilizers application by the industries.

Another negative impact associated with the current farming system is the loss of biodiversity due to the natural habitat being destroyed by conventional system.

“Zambia is losing vital insects especially the pollinators such as bees due to massive application of herbicides on some flowering crops, the more bees are killed the more Zambia will be exposed to hunger because the insects play a big role in the pollination of crops and fruits in the organic farming systems,” cautioned Phiri.

The need to invest in commercial value of agroecology according to Caritas Zambia is high demand for organic food produced on the local, regionally, and international markets.

Caritas Zambia Executive Director Eugene Kabalika said in an exclusive telephone interview that the government needs to come up with an agroecology policy saying this will help farmers to adopt agroecology.

Kabalika noted that currently, they are working with farming groups in selected parts of the Zambia to practice agroecology and the results are impressive.

“These farmers are accessing our organic fertilizers to apply on their gardens and the produces are good because organic fertilizers feed the soil thus regenerating the soil fertility as compared to inorganic fertilizers which feed only the crops,”Kabalika explained.

Environment, Food Sovereignty and Climate Change Justice Activist Simon Mwamba  said of late his organization has been conducting dialogues with farmers in various parts of the country to educate peasant farmers on agroecology farming.

“Recently, the organization has been carrying out regional dialogues for agroecology actors from various parts of the country sensitizing farmers and district leaders about the advantages associated with agro-Ecology farming,” recalled Mwamba in an exclusive interview.

James Simbeye, from Rufunsa District in Lusaka Province has been farming maize for the last 10 years with the hope of buying himself a vehicle.

The more acres of maize he plants, the more he spends on buying agricultural inputs including fertilizers and maize seeds.

Simbeye was told by scientists that planting hybrid maize varieties will give him more productivity since they mature earlier than traditional and organic varieties.

The product had been promising but later he discovered that he was destroying biodiversity by destroying the environment and other living organisms in the soil which are vital in soil fertility maintenance.

“The more we apply inorganic fertilizers and other pest control herbicides, the more our soil lost fertility,” Simbeye observed.

He added that, almost every season, we are supposed to buy fertilizer to apply in the gardens to get a good harvest but the soils are drying up.

“When we contacted other scientists, we were advised to apply organic fertilizers to help the soils regain the lost fertility,” Simbeye explained.

Simbeye, however, knows that it is difficult to access organic fertilizer in huge quantities because there is no company engaged in the massive production of organic fertilizers in Zambia.

Simbeye and other farmers were connected to Kasisi Agriculture Training Centre (KATC) and Participatory Ecological Land Use Management (PELUM Zambia) that promoting agroecology farming system, which uses indigenous knowledge in food and livestock production.

“Through the working relationships with these two institutions, we were taught how to engage in organic farming. Since then, we have been practicing agroecology farming system,” explained Simbeye.

He said experts at KATC trained farmers in the district on how the system works and many farmers can make their organic fertilizers.

Instead of procuring expensive inorganic fertilizers which is also dangerous to the country’s biodiversity,” noted Simbeye that he and many other farmers in the district are using organic fertilizer which has proved to be effective.

Patrick Mwape, a farmer from Chapula on the Copperbelt province suggested a need for farmers to be educated on agroecology and that some have no capital to invest in the system.

“This education will help us as farmers to produce agro ecology-related inputs such as organic fertilizers,” advised Patrick.

However, Mwape is delighted that KATC has begun producing organic manures from livestock by-products and is planning to partner with local and foreign investors to invest in the massive production of organic fertilizers.