Kafue, Sunday (November 12, 2023)
GOVERNMENT has started teaching farmers on the use of Bokashi organic manure practiced in Japan as an alternative to chemical fertilizers to promote smart Agriculture in response to environmental sustainability.
Ministry of Agriculture Farm Management Officer for Lusaka District, Grace Chirwa, said farmers are encouraged to practice organic farming as an option to chemical fertilizers.
Ms Chirwa disclosed that Government has in the last two weeks trained farmers through existing cooperatives to make ‘Bokashi’, a Japanese term which means fermentation.
She revealed that Bokashi is made using available materials like grass, leaves, some ash and anti hill soil.
Ms Chirwa said Bokashi is good because it gets ready for use within two weeks as compared to the ordinary compost manure which takes two to four months to be used.
She stated that Government is hopeful that the use of Bokashi will help farmers to be more sustainable in practising Smart Agriculture.
Ms Chirwa was speaking in Kafue District on behalf of Government and the Lusaka City Council Officials on what Government was doing on Environment and Climate Action.
This was during a Climate Change Training workshop organised by Centre for Environment Justice (CEJ) which is implementing a project dubbed “Strengthening Civil Society Voices for Climate Advocacy in Zambia”, funded by United Nations Democracy Fund (UNDEF), covering five districts namely Lusaka, Chirundu, Luangwa, Chongwe and Rufunsa.
And Ms Chirwa said the Government has stepped up efforts to promote smart Agriculture despite low adoption levels adding that the Government will not give up.
“The government has been encouraging farmers to plant early maturing varieties because the weather pattern has changed,” she said.
Ms Chirwa said farmers are being taught on water conservation by practising drip irrigation to avoid wastage of water.
“Government is encouraging farmers to diversify crops in the wake of Climate Change by growing drought tolerant crops such as cassava, millet and sorghum,” she said.
She said farmers are being taught on conservation Agriculture to ensure minimum or zero tillage of land.
“Chirwa explained that tillage of land forces the carbon trapped in the soil to come up into the atmosphere and becomes harmful Carbon Dioxide once it meets oxygen,” she said.
Meanwhile, Centre for Environment Justice (CEJ) Head of Research and Studies Freeman Mubanga said Agriculture is one of the highly impacted sectors by Climate Change.
Mr. Mubanga explained that this is why CEJ is implementing a project dubbed “Strengthening Civil Society Voices for Climate Advocacy in Zambia”, funded by United Nations Democracy Fund (UNDEF), covering five districts namely Lusaka, Chirundu, Luangwa, Chongwe and Rufunsa, to explain Zambia’s National Adaptation Planning (NAP) processes and Nationally Determined Contribution (NDCs).
“The success of Zambia’s National Adaptation Planning (NAP) processes and Nationally Determined Contribution (NDCs) implementation in the country hinges on the participation of several stakeholders including the Civil society movement,” he said.
Mr. Mubanga said the transformative initiative aims to empower Civil Society Organizations in Zambia to play a pivotal role in advocating for climate action and environmental sustainability.’
“It is for this reason that CEJ is building the capacity of CSOs in climate adaptation and implementation of Nationally Determined Contributions,” he said.