FARMER, HILDA PHIRI
Hilda Phiri is a farmer from Simon Village, Chipata, Zambia. For years, she grew vegetables only during the rainy season because using watering cans and shallow wells made it difficult to do gardening during the dry months.
Things changed when she joined the AFAS-sponsored program, “From Auto Pilot to Champion Farmer.” With support from Jacana, she got a borehole which was drilled in her garden, allowing her to grow more crops and tried hybrid tomatoes even during the dry season. She has also benefited from several agro related trainings such that she was able to make her own organic bio-fertilizer.
Recently, however, Hilda faced challenges due to the drought. The water level in her borehole reduced so she was getting less and less water as the months proceed deeper into the dry season of 2024.
To cope, she dug an open well to get more water while waiting for the rains to recharge her borehole. Hilda’s determination, hard work and peserverance has helped her to remain positive and hopeful.
About Hilda Phiri
Hilda Phiri is a single parent who looks after her three children. Her aged father and mother also stay with her. She is the breadwinner of the family. She has learned to become enterprising in farming and also running a grocery shop at her house. In her garden she grows tomatoes, onions and cabbages and is experimenting with ginger and garlic. Her dream is to expand into ginger and garlic growing. Since joining the project, she has shown her dedication and commitment to applying what she has been learning through the workshops and farmer exchange visits organised via the AFAS sponsored project. See her progress and challenges under the Guidance and Monitoring section below
Donor
Hilda Phiri is supported by AFAS.
Jacana’s role
Jacana will provide Hilda with the following support: – Business and financial training. – A borehole and a solar pump. – Agro support (partly sponsored agro supplies and inputs) and guidance – Bookkeeping guidance.
Provided training
You can also download the manuals for these trainings:
Guidance and monitoring
February 2025
Jacana supported farmers in the project by providing smartphones through a cost-sharing arrangement, where farmers contributed 40% of the total cost, and the remaining 60% was covered by the project, funded by the AFAS Foundation.
In February 2025, Hilda participated in a smartphone training workshop designed to help farmers utilize digital tools to enhance their agricultural activities. During the training, she learned how to use apps for crop disease detection and online solutions, as well as how to navigate the bookkeeping app developed by Jacana specifically for this project.
Guidance and monitoring
November 2024
After observing the positive impact of the visits during the “Best Farmer of the Year” assessment conducted in March 2024, Jacana decided to organize a mid-year exchange. This initiative aims to encourage farmers to continue sharing the knowledge they have gained from Jacana as well as other sources. In the pictures below Hilda is seen explaining to her fellow farmers how mulching helped saved her tomatoes from withering because of not having enough water. She was also showing them her open well which she deepened to access more water because her borehole was not producing enough water due to the drought.
October 2024
Despite the nationwide drought that caused most of the neighboring gardens to dry up due to a lack of water, Hildah was able to sustain her garden with the help of a borehole provided by Jacana. She also applied skills she learned from Jacana, such as mulching, to enhance her garden’s resilience.
April 2024
After the farmer’s visit, an award ceremony was held to recognize and present prizes to the top farmers in the categories where they excelled. The event was also a fun-filled day, featuring games, lunch, and opportunities for interaction with all the farmers involved in the project, particularly those from Lundazi and Petauke who joined the celebration.
April 2024
It was Hilda’s turn visiting her garden during the best farmer award season. Farmers were engaging with her, asking questions about the status of her garden trying to determine how to score her on her performance.
March 2024
High farming input costs, such as fertilizers and pesticides, are a major challenge for African smallholder farmers. Hilda attended Sustainable Organic Agriculture (SOA) and Organic Vegetable Production (OVP) training at Jacana, where she learned to make, mix, and use organic pesticides. In the training, Hilda practiced making organic pesticides using materials like neem leaves. She also applied the pesticide on eggplants affected by red spider mites to test its effectiveness.
December 2023
After learning to make organic fertilizer, Hilda conducted her own trials to compare the performance of bokashi with synthetic fertilizers on rape vegetables. Image below: Left is the rape without bokashi and right with bokashi bio fertilizer applied.
October 2023
Field Officer Chongo visited Hilda to assist in planning and designing the crop layout for her 50 x 50m vegetable garden. Together, they developed a detailed plan to optimize the space for planting.
July 2023
One of the project’s goals is to encourage farmers to think outside the box and try new approaches. Hilda embraced this by planting a new tomato hybrid variety, Newton, instead of the open-pollinated variety (OPV) she had been growing. She was delighted with the results and expressed her gratitude to Jacana for the motivation.
April 2023
Hilda was weeding her garlic crop, which she was growing for the first time. She also began recording her expenses and purchases using the bookkeeping sheet provided by the project, applying the knowledge she had previously gained about the importance of proper record-keeping.
December 2022
Hilda participated in a training session on making various types of organic compost and bio-fertilizers. This included Berkley compost, Bokashi, and bio-fertilizers. She also learned how to create extracts from animal manure and leaf tea. The image below shows Hilda turning Bokashi during the training.
September 2022
Hilda attended a business training workshop where she learned the fundamentals of creating a business plan, financial plan, and marketing plan. For her practical exercise, she used the idea of expanding in garlic farming to develop a realistic business plan.
