For those wanting to manage their farmsteads better and get out of the farmer's poverty trap, this is for you! Decide to attain comprehensive food security, grow and secure your assets, and sustainably be productive for yourself as you build your legacy.
Learn how to adapt to and mitigate the ever changing environmental, socioeconomic, and market uncertainties Zambia is experiencing today. You will be able to identify your challenges, evaluate them and reprioritize your strategies for your own personal farmstead goals of success.
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Farmsteading, smallholder farming, small scale farming, however you term it, has been marketed in Zambia for decades as a susbsitence survival poverty net. However, over the decades, given the way it is managed by farmers and the various sectors of society, and the misconceptions sensationalised, it has become more of a poverty trap.
Some people say farming is the quickest way to lose your money. And they are right. Farming if not done right can be a money pit. We have seen several people having all the assets they need to be be successful farmers still lose everything all the same. We have seen some start from nothing and become very successful. Still some fluctuate between being successful and losing everything, one moment they are up and the next they are down. It's one reason they call farming a gamble. But to be honest, what work isn't a gamble. Even formal employment with a solid contract can end just like that. So we need to look at farming differently, with the respect it deserves.
Farmsteading is a profession and it is also a lifestyle. Like any profession or lifestyle, it has fundamental approaches to ensure success. Small scale farming has not been effectively synonymous with attaining food security, wealth or sustainability. Instead it is labelled a poor man's resort to survival. In addition it has been labelled a peaceful retirement plan for the elderly. I have known many poor only get poorer and elderly not have any peace in their farming ventures. Their own children and grandchildren sadly have sold off inherited assets not wanting to end up like their parents and grandparents. Understandable, as legacy farming is not a concept efficiently championed in Zambia.
I have also seen how small scale farmers refuse to get out of poverty and wear the poverty title proudly on their sleeves. Either poverty alleviation is too much work, or only for the learned, or only for the wealthy. Yes, these are among the excuses I have come across working with small scale farmers. Some go further and say that they have personal challenges that prevent them from succeeding.
However, Zambia is better positioned for success than most southern African countries by way of resources, farmer support frameworks, the socio-economic environment, land ownership and legal systems etc.
I know this is an unpopular opinion and it most certainly does not dismiss those farmers genuinely going through personal challenges. However, what excuse do we really have for not becoming successful small scale farmers? From what I have witnessed, experienced and learned from those before me about small scale farming, I do not think we have a pass on this one. We are our own worst enemy for success.
The levels of food insecurity
Poverty is a syndrome. T
Even with zero experience you can make at least a million kwacha in one season!
Even with zero experience you can make at least a million kwacha in one season!
Even with zero experience you can make at least a million kwacha in one season!
Even with zero experience you can make at least a million kwacha in one season!