Zambia Copperbelt
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Implementing Organization
Nazarene Compassionate Ministries (NCM)
Program Summary
This program is based in the Chililabombwe, Chingola, Kitwe, and Masaiti areas of the Zambian Copperbelt and uses conservation agriculture methods to increase food production, improve food security, reduce malnutrition levels, and increase household income. By training farmers in good agricultural practices such as crop rotation and diversification as well as the basics of conservation agriculture, agricultural inputs are being used more efficiently, improving cost effectiveness.
Beauty's Story - Zambia Copperbelt Program
Success Stories
What Can Happen When You’re Given a Chance
After she divorced while still in college, Zeleness received a piece of land from her mother for cultivating maize. On top of struggling to finish her degree and raise her son on her own, the prospect of farming, about which she knew nothing, overwhelmed her. “I knew my mother’s gift was supposed to help me feed my son, but as it was, I felt like a failure and a bad mother,” she says.
So, when the leaders of her community suggested she attend agriculture training given by Nazarene Compassionate Ministries, she was thrilled by the opportunity to turn things around.
Zeleness recalls, “We learned the importance of land preparation; planting the right seed at the right time; how to make manure tea and organic fertilizer. We also learned about bookkeeping. And we were all given seeds and some tools. I got maize seed, a sprayer pump and a watering can.”
That year, for the first time in her farming life, she harvested nine 110-lb bags of maize, enough food to last a year and a half. She sold two bags to buy school items for her son. This year, she’s expecting to harvest more than twenty bags. They’re still eating maize she harvested last year, so she envisions selling more bags in order to further improve their life.
Zeleness says, “When I started farming, I was just doing it without knowing when to do what. Now look at me! This change has shown me that you can make it in life, if only you’re given a chance. Deep down in my heart, I knew that one day my life would change. When I received training in agriculture, I knew it was changing for good. Farming has become my passion, and I’m happy that my mother knows this. My son is also learning about farming from me.
“I hope that in the future,” she continues, “I will become one of the farmers who supply produce to the big shops in my town and other towns. I dream of helping others to become farmers as well. I want to inspire young women to get serious about farming so that they, like me, will become a strong, focused woman.”
Zambia Northwest Program
Led by Nazarene Compassionate Ministries