Promoting sustainable agriculture
by Khazike Sakala
The ZGF funded Muchinga Project has yielded an extraordinary collaboration between Senior Chief Nkula of Chinsali District and Maluba Home Based Care (HBC), a community based organization that is a recipient of our Imbuto grant. This special relationship has been formed to address land degradation and stir environmental and community sustainability in Nkula chiefdom.
In the recent past, the country has seen a few strides being made in preserving the natural habitat through environmental protection initiatives and techniques. However, most of these strides have raised various concerns amongst the marginalized and rural poor as it has demanded a trade-off with their sources of livelihood and household income. A typical example here is that of charcoal burning. Most households and individuals have always resorted to charcoal burning as a source of energy for cooking and a source of income generation. Another harmful practice that has been very common amongst farmers is the use of fertilizers and pesticides to grow and maintain crops.
Environmental sustainability interventions have mostly meant that locals have had to forego cultural farming practices they have had since time immemorial that have assured them of survival from day to day, year to year, decade to decade and indeed generation to generation.
These cultural practices that have proven to be environmentally unfriendly are still quite common in Nkula Chiefdom in Chinsali District of Muchinga Province. This happens to be one of the areas where the Chitemene system (shifting cultivation) has been a pronounced cultural farming practice. The chitemene system is a type of farming that entails clearing of forests, cutting down of trees and burning branches to allow for farming. After this particular piece of land is utilized, the same is done to another identified area with virgin land.
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