August 2019

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Organic farming for beekeepers

Beekeeping and farming go well together, but you have to be aware of the fact that bees and pesticides do not go well together. The trained beekeepers in Chipata have also come to that conclusion and have asked Jacana if they can be trained in a way of farming that goes well with keeping bees. The beekeepers all have a lot of agricultural land for growing crops, vegetables and fruit trees and in addition to the agricultural land they have forest. This is of course an excellent environment for keeping bees.

Thanks to  Leo Bijl Foundation, 11 beekeepers have started organic farming training under the guidance of Elias Saliuya. Elias is one of the few Zambians who is trained to provide an organic agricultural training. He is TEVETA certified and is almost finished with his additional training at the UFCE University in Zambia.

Theory under the tree

The training consists of little theory and lots of practice. Elias explains for example how to prepare the land to keep the soil fertile in an organic way. A lot of land in Zambia is completely exhausted, because maize is grown intensively. Year after year the same crop completely depletes the soil. The beekeepers learn how to rotate crops, how to prepare the soil, how and when to weed, how to fertilize and how to prevent diseases. There are four principles that underlie organic farming:
1: On time
2: Standard
3: With pleasure
4: There is no waste

These four principles will be applied during the 10 training days and hopefully the beekeepers will have mastered the four principles. Every beekeeper will start working on their own farm after training and Elias will come back for follow-up training. Because there will always be questions and challenges.

Land preparation in practice

New project in Chipata and Chasefu District

Thanks to support from Skat and Drink & Donate from Switzerland, we have started a new water project in which 21 families in villages in Chipata and Chasefu district gain access to a partially sponsored pump for both household use and income-generating activities. Meetings have been organized in the villages where families were informed about the program. The families who have an idea how to increase their income once they have improved access to water all year round were interviewed. The people with the most promising ideas were chosen for a business training. After the training, the families were visited and a selection was made as to who is eligible for a partially sponsored pump. There are already five families who have paid the commitment fee and three pumps already have been installed on newly drilled boreholes. The families are very grateful that they now have access to water throughout the year. The pump owners share their water with on average 10 neighbouring families. It is not only very convenient to have water close to the house, it saves a lot of time, improves hygiene and therefore has a positive impact on health for all the families.

Business training

Looking for potential partner organizations

EMAS and Jacana SMART Center Zambia see great untapped opportunities for manual drilling and local pump producers in the light blue and blue colored areas of the Zambia map below. Do you know a good reliable local partner who is active in one of these areas and who is interested in being part of our project? Reply on this newsletter and let us know.

Blue areas are highly suitable for manual drilling

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