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Encouraging and Empowering Farmers

Several farmers participating in the Zambia Northwest program recently stepped forward to share their results:

John: “My standard of living has improved since I’ve been applying the conservation farming methods I’ve learned. This means my wife and I can put more food on the table for our six children than ever before, and I’m able to pay school fees for all of them.”

Obieness: “My life has changed for the better since I started getting conservation agriculture training.  I’m a widow with seven children, and life has been a challenge for me. But after learning more appropriate ways to farm, I’m expecting good yields on my maize and groundnuts (peanuts) this year. For the first time in my life, my community respects me as a responsible and caring parent because I am able to provide for my family.  What a proud mother I am!”

Simeon: “This empowerment program has made me appreciate farming so much more, thanks to everything I’ve learned about conservation agriculture.  Through mulching and using environmentally friendly ways to manage pests, I’ve harvested more.  My successes gave me the confidence to enlarge my maize field, and I even added a new field of cassava. Because we have more to eat and I can make money from selling our excess, I feel like a person who has found a lucrative new job.”

Clara: “As a widow taking care of six orphans in addition to my son, I’m amazed and proud that I am standing on my own two feet where farming is concerned. I am thankful for all the farming instruction and support I’ve received from the staff. I’ve learned how to fertilize my fields with manure tea (liquid manure) and improved my yields of maize and groundnuts with a number of other practices that were new to me. The NCM team has visited me on many occasions to encourage me and suggest corrections when things weren’t going as planned. My yields improved and allowed me to make more money from selling what we didn’t need to eat just as I had to pay for an operation for my son.” 

Caption: Preparing fields

Zambia Northwest Program
Led by Nazarene Compassionate Ministries

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