Satisifaction gained from helping country of plenty feed itself

Kitwe, Feb. 6, 2008: What a fertile land Zambia is. The glossy avocado trees hang full with pear shaped fruit, mangos are plentiful, the guavas are ripening and corn fields look promising. It is hard to believe that people are hungry in this country. With only 10 million people and a large fertile land base, everyone should have plenty. There are many reasons why this is not so, and I won’t go into them now.

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We hope that our presence will help at least a few farmers improve their production and that they will be role models for others.

The rain continues. Daily newspapers show pictures of schoolchildren wading through water and mud as president Levy Mwanawasa makes appeals to help mitigate the damage of the wide spread flooding. A talk this morning with a chief research officer of forestry put a different spin on the disaster. Some of Africa’s largest river systems flow through Zambia. The officer, who has worked on extensive environmental studies of watershed areas, maintains that mismanagement of these areas is a main reason the flooding is so severe — mainly the deforestation and clearing of areas close to the river basins. A large culprit has been the copper mining business — the copper ore is found mainly along the rivers. The mines are becoming more responsible but for many it is too late.

Last week we took a trip out to Heart of Africa Mission, where we helped establish a small banana plantation three years ago. Robert was instrumental in designing and implementing the irrigation system. We returned twice to help with expansion of the plantation. It’s a treat to see the dark green jungle of banana plants — 2,700 in all — producing well. They contribute substantially to the financial operation of the mission station.

The Africans take great pride in their plantation and were eager to show us how it has progressed since we left. Some of the plants have heavy bunches hanging. Concern is shown over a fungus that has shown up now during this unusually heavy rainy season and they discussed methods and types of spraying with Robert. Another concern is the banana virus. Many a plantation has had to pull out all its plants because of it. A dormant period of some years must be maintained before replanting with bananas. They have since found out that if infected trees are immediately removed the virus can usually be held in check and the plantation saved. Robert has recommended that they develop alternative streams of income so they are not so dependant on bananas. They do have a broiler project receiving 300 new chicks every second week. We would like to see them diversify to at least one more enterprise.

The mission is in the process of expanding the banana plantation once again and asked Robert if he could be available at times to help them install the irrigation. They have planted 1,000 new trees in the last weeks.

Bukuumo Co-operative won a major victory yesterday. After months of lobbying the town clerk to put his stamp on the development permit, without which they could not begin work on the ZamTan Farm, we were present yesterday when he promised them they would receive the coveted papers Thursday. The town clerk (the King of Kitwe) began by welcoming us profusely to the city of Kitwe, telling us of how highly he regarded Canada as one of the most stable countries in the world. He is honoured to have Canadians desire to come and work together with the Africans. Mr. Mate and Mr. Tito are adamant that our white skin was an important factor in the success. Whatever, we went home to celebrate together.