ZAMBIA’S AGRICULTURE SECTOR CLIMATICALLY VULNERABLE - ONE ACRE FUND
...urges farmers to venture into agroforestry to mitigate the effects of droughts, climate change while improving the fertility of their soils
THE devastating effects of drought caused by El Niño has exposed Zambia’s agriculture sector vulnerability largely dominated by smallholder farmers, Luke Viljoen the country manager for One Acre Fund has said.
One Acre Fund is a social enterprise that directly serves more than 2.5 million smallholder farmers across nine Sub-Saharan African countries to build more food secure and climate resilient communities.
Speaking yesterday during a training workshop for Members of Parliament on carbon markets, Mr Viljoen said endless fields across the country had dried out as a result of the devastating drought which has since been declared a national disaster.
He said most farmers had lost all hope of getting any harvests from their fields this farming season
Mr Viljoen said however farmers who had ventured into agroforestry on their farmland still had hope as they were dealing with drought resistant trees.
He said when done effectively, agroforestry did work in mitigating the effects of drought and could lead to permanent improvements in soil fertility and ultimately leading to increased farmer prosperity and adaptation to climate change.
“Critically, agroforestry can be financed through carbon markets, where buyers of carbon credits pay farmers to plant and maintain their trees. I believe that the nation can forge a future where smallholder farmers are empowered to thrive amidst the challenges of climate change, contributing to national food security and economic prosperity,” Mr Viljoen said.
He said while Zambia was at crossroads as a result of the drought, it had the opportunity to position itself as a both a global and regional leader in carbon policy by integrating carbon markets with the needs of smallholder farmers and local communities.
“We believe that farmers have the right to directly access carbon markets, and to be rewarded for their individual efforts for adopting climate smart agriculture such as agroforestry,” Mr Viljoen said.
He said One Acre Fund Zambia's intensive carbon-linked agroforestry model had projected to enroll 100, 000 farmers covering 200, 000 hectares, which was estimated to generate over US$300 million of carbon revenue over the project's lifetime.
And Malungo Chisangano, the first deputy Speaker has said it was disheartening that Zambia, had failed to harness the benefits of carbon markets due to lack of awareness and inadequate technical knowledge.
Ms Chisangano said Zambia lacked capacity on how carbon markets work and how communities and the country as whole could fully benefit from them.
“Carbon markets represent an opportunity for small-scale farmers in Zambia to improve their farming practices, adapt to climate change, and be rewarded for their contributions to global climate solutions,” Ms Chisangano said.
She urged the MPs to use insight from the workshop to debate effectively the Climate Change Bill when it was brought to Parliament.
Ms Chisangano said the increase in the development of policies and laws on carbon market in the region had underscored the importance of harnessing carbon markets for their emission reduction and community financial benefits.