Diaries of a global farmer

“Sometimes I’m up, sometimes I’m down, oh yes, Lord.” The words of that old spiritual are an apt description of my feelings as we help Bukuumo Co-operative develop the farm.

Sometimes I fear they will not make it and that it will go the way of so many projects whites help with — when the whites are gone, it collapses. Then we have a meeting like yesterday afternoon, and I have faith in this group. They can and will do it.

Read Also

Agriculture needs to prepare for government spending cuts

As government makes necessary cuts to spending, what can be reduced or restructured in the budgets for agriculture?

We reached a sort of impasse while pricing materials. Robert has insisted on accurate numbers for the project but they are slow in coming. A budget had been prepared with old estimates. When we began recruiting cement and brick mix, we realized the numbers were not accurate.

High demand for raw materials from the mining sector has created an overheated economy with rising prices. We put on the brakes. No more money until we have a proper budget and work plan. So the treasurer called a meeting yesterday. Ideas were shared, people were heard, and discussion was fruitful. The way forward was clearly formulated. Wow!

Every co-operative member is expected to do their part to make the chicken layer project a success. Robert is designing the barn and cages, together with one of the other members, who is a draftsman. Mrs. Tembo has contacts with a mine and it has promised to supply us with 20 loads of free crushed rock. We just need to get transport.

Mr. Zimba’s neighbour builds chicken cages. I surf the internet for information concerning layers. Mr. Tito manages the money. Mr. Mate directs the day to day jobs on the farm. It is fascinating to work with all these personalities and be part of building not just a farm but a strong team.

Over the last 10 days the farm has been busy. We planned to have a grader build an access road and clear the site for the chicken layer barn. Different companies were approached and many promises made. Nothing concrete happened so we went the manual route.

A group of men were hired from the nearby compound (type of suburb) and they brought hoes, picks and axes and got to work. They built a temporary road to allow trucks to bring supplies to the building site and cleared the site. It is actually a better way to go. The end result is similar, but men have jobs and families have food.

On Saturday we visited the farm of Mr. Chiwala, a former director of Zambian Airways. He is now producing eggs and bananas. He was happy to show us his chicken barns, which house 5,000 layers.

The barns are simple structures with concrete floors, walls three bricks high and mesh wire on a tin roof to allow adequate ventilation. The hens are kept four to a cage in houses of 1,500 birds. A water treatment plant insures clean water.

With the increasing cost of feed (Zambia too is feeling the crunch of rising grain prices) he plans to mill and mix his own feed on the farm. Mr. Chiwala is expanding the layer production. He is raising 8,000 pullets that are two months away from production. We were able to learn much from this dynamic entrepreneur.

As we arrived at another chicken farm, the workers were hammering a spitting cobra with rocks. It was dead when I saw it, a dark slate grey snake over a metre long. The cobra is quite dangerous. Its bite is poisonous and it will aim its spit in your eyes to blind you.

At this farm the floors were dirt and the workers told us that sometimes a snake will burrow its way under the foundation to get into the henhouse. In Alberta we have foxes, in Africa snakes. I prefer foxes.

First it was bananas, now its chickens…what will these Alberta wheat farmers work with next? Robert is busy designing the chicken layer barn and cages, together with one of the other Bukuumo Cooperative members, who is a draftsman.

I surf the internet for all available information concerning layers, as if I was going to become a chicken farmer. As members of the coop, we all have the mandate to do our part to making the chicken layer project a success. Mrs. Tembo has good contacts to a mine, which has promised to supply us with 20 loads of free crushed rock – we just need to get transport. Mr. Zimba’s neighbour constructs chicken cages. Mr. Mate directs the day to day jobs on the farm. So we are all part of the team.