Zukuka's Quest Towards a Hunger Free Community

“You can take a horse to the lake but you can not force it to drink…..” so goes an old saying but this time round both will work because we are devising a participatory approach by all stakeholders of KZP.

Having assessed the needs of the area it was realized that lack of enough food throughout the year is the core problem in the community.

A series of visits have been made by organizations with the similar objectives and it looks like a step towards our goal has been made.Forexample improved seed varieties of; maize, beans, cabbage, carrots, spinach, onions, cassava and Clonal coffee have been accessed farmers in the community.

The community though still conservative, peoples’ field yields are improving from subsistence to commercial. During the first eight months of implementation, the attitude towards practical working and learning how to do things is better. We have already tested success in improving yields among the seriously improving beneficiaries. For example a 0.75 acre plot demonstrated by FICA Seeds yielded 1000 kilograms of grain having planted only 10 kilograms of seeds.

Yields would be high but they are reduced by the long droughts experienced annually. No serious pests and diseases have been identified in the area but luck of enough water has taken toll on crops in the fields, animals and sometimes peoples’ lives. “Our is a district long cursed. Drought has destroyed all my crops and my only cow. And when I think of migrating, it is impossible because I have a big family” says one of the beneficiaries. Such and more is the scenario between May and September every year.

Adding value to farmer’s produce is our target over the years and we hope it will work out to control the rate of price fluctuation on the agricultural market. This can be possible if; farmers access information on the agriculture market, learn how to do storage or even involve them in alternative forms of income generation.

It is not easy to run all this at once and on many occasions we are incapacitated but a concerted effort by our field staff, community steering committee and above all the enterprising patron, things are gradually changing.