All over Zambia, smallholder farmers are benefiting from improved access to resources, knowledge and markets by becoming a member of a local group or co-operative.

Unis Neayu was one of the founding members of the Chiyanjano Women’s Group in Makwatata. The group has been operating for four years, and she says that the 22 members, which include four men, have benefited in many ways.

“We have a number of schemes running in the group,” she says. “We rear pigs to sell, and are thinking of buying chickens as a group in the next few months. We have received watering cans and seed through Self Help Africa, which has improved the quality of the vegetables that we grow in our gardens. We have also received advice on crop rotation and diversification.”

Unis and her husband now grow tomatoes, Chinese cabbage, onions, rape, pumpkins, peas, sugar cane and guavas in addition to seasonal crops of maize, sunflowers, groundnuts and cotton.

“We have a constant food supply throughout the year, and a constant income as we can sell the surplus,” she says. “We have gained a lot of knowledge through the group.”

The groups are facilitated by camp officers from the Ministry of Agriculture, and many are also supported by NGOs. Groups can have members with something in common, such as people living with HIV, widows or women’s groups, and others are open to all. Most groups charge a 50,000Kw (€8) joining fee, and every member must buy at least one share (also 50,000Kw) per year.

Most groups have a common plot of land, or shared livestock. A percentage of the proceeds are shared among the group members, and the remainder, along with money raised from joining fees and shares, is invested back into the group to expand its livelihood activities, allowing their income generating potential to expand year on year. Members are obliged to participate fully in all group activities, and can be expelled from the group at any time by the Chairperson.

Groups and co-operatives like Chiyanjano are also eligible for government subsidies, which is one of the main attractions for members. The government run Food Reserve Agency (FRA) offers them a fixed price of 65,000Kw per 50Kg bag of maize, almost twice what the farmers receive from private farm-gate traders.

Under the Farmer Input Support Programme (FISP), members of groups are also entitled to purchase four bags of subsidised fertilizer from the FRA, at 50,000Kw per bag. The cost per bag from private traders in Chipata is currently 165,000Kw, so the scheme offers considerable savings.

However, four bags are enough to fertilize just four acres (enough, according to the FRA, to grow maize to feed one family for the year), and the majority of farmers must buy additional bags at very high and unregulated prices if they want to grow maize to sell. Almost every farmer I have spoken to in Makwatata has said that the cost of fertilizer hinders the size of their harvest, and thus their annual income, as they cannot afford to buy enough fertilizer for their whole farm.

The group must meet a number of requirements before they are officially recognized and their members become entitled to farm inputs. They must first apply for a registration certificate with the Registrar Society of Zambia; open a bank account; form a set of by-laws for the group; establish a recognized area (i.e. village) where the group will be based; and keep a registrar book.

Local Authorities have begun to recognise the value of already mobilized and motivated groups of citizens, and are now utilizing the groups as mechanisms for spreading knowledge about issues such as sanitation and healthcare.

There are many farmers in Makwatata who are not part of a group, and therefore unable to access the benefits that being a member brings. “I would like to join one of the groups, but the joining fee is too expensive,” says Mauto Zima, a poor farmer living in Makwatata with his wife and four children. Others lack the motivation, or are too individualistic to see the benefits of people working to achieve a common goal.

“I would like to join one of the groups, but the joining fee is too expensive”

But for those who recognise the potential benefits, joining a group can make a big difference to their family’s livelihood and food security. “With proper management, a farm can multiply its basic profits by four by being part of a group or co-op and accessing the Farmer Input Support Programme,” says Richard Soko, Chairperson of the Mfumbeni Development Association.

“These programmes have lifted living standards for group members considerably in the last few years. You can see it in the number of people now sending their children to school, wearing shoes, and buying bicycles. They may seem like small things, but they are small steps in the right direction.”