Care International's work in Zambia has two main goals: increase the production of staple crops and improve farmers' access to agricultural inputs, such as seeds and fertilizers.
But instead of giving away bags of seed and fertilizers to farmers, Care is "creating input access through a business approach," not a subsidy approach, according to Steve Power, Assistant Country Director for Zambia.
One way they're doing this is by creating a network of agro-dealers who can sell inputs to their neighbors as well as educate them about how to use hybrid seeds, fertilizers, and other inputs. At the same time, "we are mindful" of the benefits of local varieties of seeds, says Harry Ngoma, Agriculture Advisor for the Consortium for Food Security, Agriculture and Nutrition, AIDS, Resiliency and Markets (C-FAARM). Care and C-FAARM are working with farmers to combine high- and low-technology practices.
Care thinks that this "business approach" will help farmers get the right inputs at the right time, unlike subsidy approaches that give farmers fertilizer for free, but often at the wrong time of year, making the nutrients unavailable to crops. And Care's focus on training agro-dealers and giving them start-up grants allows the organization to remain invisible to farmers. Power says that Care wants to be a "catalyst to the market" and help transfer resources, without distorting the basic pricing structure.
Another component of Care's work is improving the production of sorghum and cassava. "Zambia is as addicted to maize as we are to Starbucks coffee," says Power. But by encouraging the growth of other crops, including sorghum, which is indigenous to Africa, Care can help farms diversify local diets as well as build resilience to price fluctuations and drought.
Care is promoting conservation farming in Zambia as well. The organization has been working in six districts since 2007, reaching 24,000 households. In addition to promoting minimum tillage practices and the use of manure and compost, Care is helping to train government extension officers about conservation farming so that eventually they'll be responsible-instead of Care-for training farmers.
According to Power, the key to Care's work is promoting business-like approaches to agriculture alongside more traditional ones, so farmers don't become dependent on the organization for gifts of fertilizer or seed. These sorts of programs, according to Care, will be more effective at feeding people and increasing incomes than traditional food-aid projects that rely on long-term donor support. This is a big challenge in a country-and a region-facing the impacts of both climate change and the global economic crisis.
Stay tuned for more blogs about how farmers are linking to the private sector.
Richard Haigh runs Enaleni Farm outside Durban, South Africa, raising endangered Zulu sheep, Nguni cattle (a breed indigenous to South Africa that is very resistant to pests), and a variety of fruits and vegetables. Check out this video from my conversation with Richard about his sheep, his garden, and the meaning behind the name of his farm:
Richard Haigh doesn't look like your typical African pastoralist. Unlike many Africans who grew up tending cattle, sheep, goats, and other livestock, Richard started his farm in 2007 at the age of 40. He quit his 9-5 job at a nongovernmental organization and bought 23 acres of land outside Durban, South Africa.
He wanted to totally change his life.
Today, he runs Enaleni Farm (enaleni means "abundance" in Zulu), raising endangered Zulu sheep, Nguni cattle (a breed indigenous to South Africa that is very resistant to pests), and a variety of fruits and vegetables.
Richard is cultivating GMO-free soya, as well as traditional maize varieties. "All the maize tells a story," he says. Like the sheep and cattle, many maize varieties are resistant to drought, climate change, and diseases, making them a smart choice for farmers all over Africa.
This sort of mixed-crop livestock system is becoming increasingly rare in South Africa, according to Richard, because of commercial farms that rely on monoculture crops rather than on diverse agricultural systems.
Richard likes to say that his farm isn't organic, but rather an example of how agro-ecological methods can work. He practices push-pull agriculture, which uses alternating intercropping of plants that repel pests (pushing them away from the harvest) and ones that attract pests (pulling them away from the harvest) to increase yields. He also uses animal manure and compost for fertilizer.
But perhaps the most important thing Richard is doing at Enaleni doesn't have to do with the various agricultural methods and practices he's using. It's about the "stories" he's telling on the farm. By showing local people the tremendous benefits that indigenous cattle and sheep breeds, and sustainably grown crops, can have for the environment and livelihoods, he's putting both an ecological and economic value on something that's been neglected. "Local people don't value what they have," says Richard, because extension agents have tended to promote exotic livestock and expensive inputs.
In addition, Richard asks himself "what can we do that is specific to where we live?" In other words, how can we promote local sources of agricultural diversity that are good for the land and for people?
Richard is also helping document the diversity on his farm. He's been sending blood samples to the South African National Research Foundation to help them build a DNA "hoof print" of what makes up a Zulu sheep. This sort of research is important not only for conserving the sheep, but for helping to increase local knowledge about the breeds that people have been raising for generations.
As a result of his conservation work, Richard and Enaleni Farm have been recognized by Slow Food International, which wants to work with the farm and local communities to find ways to ensure that the Zulu sheep don't disappear.
Richard hopes to share his knowledge about agriculture with local farmers, teaching them how to spot and prevent disease in indigenous sheep, as well as explaining agro-ecological methods of raising food.
As most of you are well aware, last week was a snow week in Washington, DC, and the odds are pretty good that there's something like that going on for you as well.
Our good friends in the conservative community have seized upon the moment as proof that this whole "global warming" thing is just a big scam perpetrated by the likes of Al Gore and his Legion Of Weather Nazis; their mission being only to deprive the American people of their Constitutional right to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of a Ford Super Duty F-450 King Ranch Edition with the Heavy Service Suspension Package, Snow Plow Prep Package, Transmission Power Take-Off Provision, dual alternators, and supplemental cab heater.
To drive the point home, last week Senator James Inhofe's family went to the time and trouble to build a little igloo on the National Mall for our amusement.
But here's a question: just what has the weather been like in other places-for example, in my part of the world...or in the Senator's home State of Oklahoma?
It's a good question-and the Senator won't like the answer.
In talking further with members of the African civil society delegations about the current effects of climate change in their region, Robert Chimambo of Zambia's Civil Society Climate Change Network said that his central African nation of Zambia was "getting rains like we've never seen," while Kenya was experiencing terrible droughts.
Chimambo said his country "needed help yesterday, people are drowning now." He explained that the rains were flood much of the crops that were planted, while waterlogged soils were keeping people from planting crops and undermining the foundations of homes.
His comments were echoed by Tolbert Jallah, a Liberian working in Togo with the Fellowship of Christian Councils and Churches in West Africa. He said nations in western Africa also used to have a six month dry season followed by a six month rainy season, but "now we have 10 months of rain."
Jallah described the situation in failed state of Togo, where part of the country is in drought, while the northern areas bordering Burkina Faso are flooded out. He said the drought had created such hot, dusty conditions that even someone like himself from a nearby country found it intolerably hot and dusty.
Both conditions are worsening Togo's food security. Jallah described animals being drowned and washed away in one region and being suffocated by the same heat that's dried up their water and forage in drought-stricken regions.
In his native Liberia, Jallah said that the city of Buchanan (like Togo's capital, Lome) was in danger of being inundated by the rising Atlantic ocean. Many seaside coconut plantations have already been inundated and he said he thought people on the beach would lose everything, "because we never know when the water will come at night." Floods from heavy rains also washed garbage into the cities, posing a health risk particularly to children.
Jallah also said that agriculture was at much at risk in Liberia as in Togo. He said rains often prevent farmers from clearing brush or getting to their farms when the creeks overflow. And forget planting in the rain.
Jallah and I talked a bit about the holdup with climate legislation in the US Senate. I told him that we were having problems getting them to do anything, and that some Senators didn't believe in global warming. He was well shocked.
"If any person says climate change is not real, I think that prson is sick," said Jallah, "I think that person can only be healed when he comes and sees the reality in the continent of Africa. ... The ocean is coming. What can these countries do to stop the ocean?"
Jallah added that he was "not impressed with the US government," or Obama's statements, saying that the US president doesn't show emotional intensity on climate change as he has on other issues. "President Obama, where is the world leadership," he asked.
Emphasizing his belief that it was a much of a concern for all faith-based organizations, as well as a moral country like the US, Jallah said that "if we turn a blind eye to climate change ... it's declaring one side of the world a graveyard."
Jallah said rich countries should offer an equitable deal, at least $20 billion per year in aid, instead of the "chicken feed money" that's on the table now.
- The AFL-CIO lays out the what's what on the economic situation for 18-35 year olds. Main takeaways: more of them are unemployed, fewer of them can afford to build savings or get health coverage, they're deferring education or planning for a family because of the expense, and just over a third of them are living with their parents.
- In what's likely the best news coming out of Afghanistan of late, opium profits have declined, so fewer farmers are growing it.
- Obama urges the public to take steps to avoid catching the flu, particularly due to concerns about the new H1N1 swine flu. Seriously, wash your hands.
This diary is related to my diary from yesterday, "Remember That Swine Flu Panic?" It, too, is from the current issue of Random Lengths News, but more significantly, it's also about seeing a problem--in this case a large and growing gap between water needs and availability--in an interconnected systemic fashion. It's a brief review and discussion of the documentary, " The American Southwest: Are We Running Dry?", by Jim Thebaut. Read it on the flip.
Over the last several years as more people, organizations and governments began to take the prospect of global warming and human influenced climate change more seriously there has arisen a kind of 60 cycle background hum over the potential dangers of social unrest, disease, famine and mass movements of populations resulting from such change.
I live in Long Beach, walking distance from San Pedro Bay, the southern edge of the Los Angeles Basin, and today there are wildfires raging on the other edge of the Los Angeles Basin. Over 100 houses have been evacutated, and over 2,000 acres burned so far. I can look out my window as I type this and see the smoke. It's not as bad as the fires one month ago. But it's a stark reminder of quickly and easily those fires could return. So I'm going to republish an article I wrote about the fires for Random Lengths News.
The image below combines a satelite photo of the fires from last month with Dorothea Lange's "Migrant Mother." She was a refuge from the most famous megadrought of the last century. But there's been much worse centuries ago, and there's much worse to come, according to scientists I spoke with.
Today, he runs 
Photo by 
