John Mwale and his cabbages

John Mwale is one of Makwatata’s most successful smallholder farmers.

In his garden, he grows tomatoes, cabbages, rape, okra, beans and pumpkins, but on a much larger scale than most other farmers in the village.

There are just 15 families in Makwatata who are lucky enough to have land along the stream where they can cultivate garden vegetables. Mwale inherited a small garden in 2001, and began growing tomatoes and cabbages.

With the help of MK-SAP and Self Help Africa, John participated in a number of one-week training programmes, where he learned about vegetable production, fish farming and business management.

“One of the most basic things I learned on the course was the benefits of crop rotation,” says Mwale. “My crops are healthier now, and are less susceptible to disease.”

Mwale began introducing more crops, and his yield grew year on year. The Chief recognised his potential, and gifted him a larger plot of land next to the stream. Mwale’s garden now encompasses three hectares, the largest in Makwatata. He also farms fifteen hectares of maize and groundnuts closeby.

As part of the business management course, Mwale learned about the benefits of market orientated production, whereby markets are found for produce before planting. Through MK-SAP and Self Help Africa, Mwale was linked to St. Monica’s Secondary School in Chipata, and he has been their sole vegetable supplier for the past two years. As the school kitchen caters for 1200 boarders, huge quantities of vegetables are needed, which means considerable profits – during term time, the school orders 500kg of vegetables every week at a cost of 1000Kw per kilo, providing Mwale with an income of 2 million Kwacha (€300) every month, in addition to the produce he sells to smaller buyers.

Beside the stream, he has dug two manmade fishponds, 15 metres by 10 metres in size. The ponds yield 6000 bream per year, which Mwale sells in the village and in Chipata. “There are no big rivers or lakes near here, so there is a huge demand for fresh fish. I get a very good price for them.”

Mwale employs one full-time worker on his farm, which in itself is extremely rare. “I have so many orders now that I am employing piece-workers [casual workers] more and more,” he says.

“Last year, I raised enough money from selling my tomatoes to buy a water pump. This has cut my labour by half, as I used to spend most of my time in the garden fetching water and watering the vegetables.”

The water pump has clearly made a huge difference to Mwale’s garden, but at 1.8m Kwacha (€275), they are unaffordable for the majority of smallholder farmers. Mwale is the only farmer in Makwatata to use one.

“I know I am very lucky, but I am also a very hard worker. I am securing a good future for my children” he says.

John Mwale’s success is a clear example of how hardworking farmers can meet the quantity and quality requirements of large buyers if provided with the credit, organisational, business, marketing and technical skills, as well as the necessary information and technology.

The majority of smallholder farmers in Zambia live in remote areas that are far from main roads or transport infrastructure, which greatly hinders their ability to connect with buyers who pay fair and stable prices. As Makwatata is located on the main road, just 30km from Chipata, it was not as difficult for Mwale, with support from the NGOs, to connect with St Monica’s as it can be for other farmers in more remote areas.

The challenge now is to find viable and successful methods of connecting smaller farmers to potential consumers that will pay fairer prices than the briefcase buyers that are often a farmer’s only means of selling surplus produce, especially in remote areas – an approach that involves collaboration between communities of farmers and organisations in the private, public and voluntary sector.