MS Zambia Newsletter April 2009

Farming is not only for men

Female farmers of the Lukafi Farmer's group have doubled their yields by discarding traditional farming methods. But it is not only farming traditions, which have changed. Other traditions, which discriminate women, are now being questioned.

By Lena Vind-Andersen, Information Officer MS Zambia

03. April 2009

”Before, we used to think that farming was only for men, but now we see that women can also be good farmers,” says Irene Chileshe. She belongs to the Lukafi Farmer's Group in Mansa District in northern Zambia. And a new found sense of confidence is not the only benefit reaped by the members of the group: ”Before we would get 45 kg of beans out of 10 kg of seeds on this field, but now it yields 90 kg and we´re able to make a profit and save sowing seeds for the next year,” explains Martha Nakasote, another member of the group.

Seven women are sitting on neat mounds of earth; row upon row stretches out over the field where they have just finished sowing beans. Hoes lie idly on the earth and children are breast fed while the women prepare to go home after a morning's work in an increasingly hot sun.

The farmer's group was formed following a workshop by MS partner Mansa District Farmer's Association (MDFA) in 2006. At the workshop, MDFA explained about the benefits of farming collectively as a group, rather than having each individual doing it for him- or herself. This inspired the community to form a group of their own and the group presently numbers more than 35 participants, 15 of which are women.

The benefits of being in the group are many: ”Before you could spend days and days working on your own field and never quite be able to use your land to the full extend. Now we help each other farm on our fields, so you don't spend as much time doing it and your own field is properly used and prepared in only a day,” says Martha Nakasote. The group has also been able to improve their farming methods and thus their yields through the training they have received by the MDFA. They have learned about the proper spacing of crops, about pest control and how certain traditional methods, like plucking the leaves of the bean plants, are actually detrimental to a good crop yield. This has dramatically increased the profits of the groups members and enabled them to put other measures in place to the benefit of all. A small amount of the profits of each member goes to the group, and are for instance used to buy seeds or hire labour during harvest time. Members can now borrow seeds from the group's seed bank and this enables them to grow more diverse crops.

Apart from these more tangible benefits, the female group members have, however, also noted a change in the attitudes of both themselves and the men: ”Being equal members of the group, has taught the men a lesson to be more fair to us, so that we get more of the profits. They are even changing their attitudes at home, treating us better than before. And we, on the other hand, have also become much better at telling them what belongs to us,” Matilda Nyanja reflects. Traditionally, women would be excluded from the farming profits, and men would be more inclined to spend the money on their own pleasures, such as beer drinking, rather than using it for the families. The women of the group are, however, now able to spend more money on their families; buying things like soap and securing the education of their children. ”Men have usually taken advantage of women, when it comes to sharing the profits of land, even though it is always the women who put the food on the table. And men still have an unfair advantage, because they are not chased away from their lands, as women often are. But we need to be in the forefront of changing that; us as women, no one else can help us do that”, declares Matilda Nyanja.

While Lukafi Farmer's group has definitely changed the livelihood of it's members to the better, these attitude changes will conceivably bring about more profound changes in the long run, than the men were bargaining for..