Building Resilience for 500 Farmers in Zambia

Building Resilience for 500 Farmers in Zambia

The past three months have been a period of waiting and preparation for us at Atwaambe Initiative. While we had hoped to begin working directly with smallholder farmers in Kalomo, implementation of the Building Resilience for 500 Farmers in Zambia project has not yet started. The project received only US$50 in donations during the past three months, and these funds have not yet been received by Atwaambe Initiative. Without sufficient resources, we have not been able to begin the planned farmer trainings, demonstration plots, radio programmes, learning groups and community dialogues.

Even though activities have not started, the need that this project seeks to address remains very real. Farmers in Kalomo continue to face challenges such as droughts, unpredictable rainfall, declining soil fertility and the rising cost of farming inputs. For many smallholder farmers, these challenges can mean lower harvests, reduced household food supplies and greater pressure on already limited incomes. Access to practical and locally relevant agricultural information can make an important difference in how farmers respond to these challenges.

Our vision for the project remains to work directly with 500 smallholder farmers through agroecology training, farmer learning groups, demonstration plots, community radio and participatory community dialogues. Farmers will learn practical approaches such as compost making, crop diversification, agroforestry and water conservation, while also drawing on local knowledge and experience. Through community radio, we hope to extend access to useful agricultural information to a much wider audience, potentially reaching approximately 300,000 community members indirectly.

For now, we remain ready to begin as soon as the necessary resources become available. We are grateful to everyone who has already shown interest in and supported this project. Every contribution brings us closer to putting these plans into action and helping farmers build more resilient and sustainable livelihoods. We look forward to sharing the first stories from the field when implementation begins.