Global markets boost incomes of small-scale farmers

Struggling with low prices for their produce in the domestic market, a growing number of small-scale farmers in Zambia have managed to turn their lives around by supplying international markets.

Luke Mbewe, chief executive officer of the Zambia Export Growers Association, an umbrella organisation of small-scale and commercial farmers cultivating vegetables and cut flowers, said returns were high for farmers who targeted the international market, especially the European Union (EU).

Under the Cotonou agreement for least-developed countries, the EU offers duty- and quota-free access to imports from African and Caribbean-Pacific countries.

"Many of our farmers are able to work themselves out of poverty within just a short period of time. In totality, our farmers are earning a gross income of about US$60 million every year from the exports of over 7,000 metric tonnes of fresh fruits and vegetables, and from about 4,000 tonnes of cut flowers," Mbewe told IRIN.

"Of this amount, about half is realised from fresh vegetables that we export mainly to South Africa through the Woolworths chain stores, as well as to New Zealand and the EU. The major market for our cut flowers still remains the European market, particularly the Netherlands, where they are auctioned," he said.

Joseph Mulenga, 62, took up growing organic maize, fruit and vegetables chiefly for export on his 14-hectare of land, 25km east of the capital, Lusaka, after he lost his job in the formal sector a few years ago. A huge demand for organically produced food in neighbouring South Africa has made him comparatively rich.

"I now own a state-of-the-art $10,000 worth bore-hole that provides my family with clean water for home use and for irrigating the crops," he said. "I also have a solar panel system, which propels the machine to constantly supply water to the tank and to the fields without using diesel or electricity, thereby cutting on the costs."

Mulenga uses green manure, a cover crop grown for a specific period and then ploughed under to add nutrients to the soil, or simple techniques like rotating crops every other year to maximise production.

Little domestic incentive

Over 75 percent of Zambia's working population is engaged in agriculture, largely as subsistence farmers growing cassava, vegetables, fruit, and maize, the country's staple crop, according to the Ministry of Agriculture.

President Levy Mwanawasa's administration has attempted to promote agricultural production to reduce the economy's over-dependence on diminishing mineral resources, but analysts say not much has been done to make farming profitable, especially for maize growers, who have had to sell their produce at low prices set by the government.

Many of our farmers are able to work themselves out of poverty within just a short period of time. In totality, our farmers are earning a gross income of about US$60 million every year from the exports of over 7,000 metric tonnes of fresh fruits and vegetables, and from about 4,000 tonnes of cut flowers

In the 2006/07 harvest season, a 50kg bag of maize was pegged at a ceiling price of $9. The Food Reserve Agency, the government body responsible for purchasing produce from farmers, is often late with payments.

"Whatever I am growing and selling on this farm has a premium, unlike my friends who are practising conventional farming and, therefore, only targeting the Food Reserve Agency," said Mulenga. "While their 50kg bag of maize is sold for 38,000 kwacha [$9], as dictated by the government, I can sell mine for as much as K400,000 [$100.88] because the demand is high [on the international market]".

Interest rates of up to 60 percent, expensive diesel and steep electricity tariffs have also left Zambian farmers who focus on the local market with slim profit margins.

Guy Robinson, president of the Zambia National Farmers Union, told IRIN: "For us to have some of our produce selling in countries like South Africa and the UK is a very big achievement; it's a very good development for the farming sector in Zambia, especially since recently we even exported some maize to South Africa, in particular ... I think our farmers are producing better quality products than in the past."

Already a precedent

Small-scale farmers elsewhere in Africa have been selling to external markets for some years. Kenya-based Vegpro, sub-Saharan Africa's third largest vegetable purchaser, has been in existence since the late 1970s, buying produce from small-scale farmers and selling it overseas.

In 2000, US charity CARE pre-financed production and provided technical support to small-scale farmers in Kenya's western region. "We were driven by the fact that, instead of whining about globalisation, which was undermining the poor across the world, we reasoned, 'why not make the markets work for the poor?'" said CARE's George Odo. "With the IT revolution, markets have been brought to our doorstep; we thought, 'why shouldn't our farmers benefit?'"

Although the project was a successful initiative, it was not commercially viable, so CARE linked up with Vegpro to provide a market for the farmers, Odo said.

A rural commercial enterprise has since been formed, known as VegCARE, which helps more than 600 farmers produce vegetables for supermarkets in the UK, such as Tesco and Sainsbury's.

"It was one of the first such initiatives in sub-Saharan Africa to supply supermarkets in Europe," said Odo. The lives of the farmers have improved dramatically, and "annual incomes have shot up from $200 to up to $3,000 a year."

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