Good Things Come in Threes!

Last Monday on the heels of a horrible day in Lusaka that involved a visit to the post office (2 hours), Northmead for a meeting with other agencies over Conservation Agriculture (2 hours), Makeni [CAMCO] where I was testing a not-so-efficient rice grader whilst arguing with the manager over the lack of quality (1 hour), pulling my hair out in Mt. Makulu trying to get the prices for pre-basic (foundation) seed (1 hour), and practicing nose-breathing whilst in the car stuck in Lusaka traffic (?? hours), I came back to the office after 6 p.m. to find out that I have had a paper published in the Journal of Agricultural Sustainability that is somewhat eponymous with the URL of this site. I tip my hat to my adviser, Dr. Bill Bland, on that one ... it was his persistence that kept the paper alive. I need to get a copy to the host family back in Monze (which I just realized I haven't visited in 1.5 years ...)

Tuesday was even better ... Accenture agreed to fund phase II of the CA programme in Zambia and Malawi, doubling it's funding amounts to $3.2 million for another three years. It's really exciting as it means I have a job past February next year (*** A brief aside ... one of the worst parts of development work is that your jobs aren't neither long-tenured or secure. ***) It is the culmination of about six months of project concept notes, proposal writing, budgeting, etc., etc. Real team effort on that one between our guys in Dublin, Malawi, and here.

Sunday, I bought a rice cooker (ironically the same Sunbeam (C) model I owned in the States; purchased it from Game in Lusaka, owned by Mass-Mart, owned in turn by Wal-Mart ... flattening world indeed). That seems really blase, but it really cuts down on the soupy rice.

Greetings my few readers! 

Here is an example of what we refer to as a political (and economic) agroecological context. 

Slightly over two months ago, the Zambian government (for reasons that remain a well of speculation) entirely dropped the subsidies on fuel and cut the subsidies for maize production / consumption. It was greeted at first with confusion that soon turned into anger, particularly with the 15% jump in fuel prices. The Zambian economy, including the small-scale farmers who are still consumers of things like sugar, cooking oil, clothes, etc., etc., suddenly saw their costs jump 20% literally overnight, as everything in this country depends on fuel. This was abetted in no small part by the fact that every can use fuel prices as an excuse to squeeze out some more profit, particularly as the chain from producer to consumer involves on average, four or five exchanges of goods (manufacturer -> regional wholesaler -> local wholesaler -> rural trucker -> retailer [tuck shop] -> consumer).

The maize subsidy reduction didn't kick up that much ruckus; however, my suspicion is that the cuts to FISP (Farmer Inputs Support Programme) won't be recognized until much closer to the farming season; oh, how will people holler when they have to pay half (rather than a fifth) of the price.

Anyway ... suddenness of the announcement caught everyone off-guard (including the government representatives, who appeared not to know about it). The sudden bump in consumer prices got everyone buzzing, and their was an order issued for government ministers to explain the reason for the reduction in subsidies; it is claimed that the money freed up will be used for rural development. 

As a guest in this country, I don't cross some lines of discussion, particularly in a public forum. I can say though that in my past experiences working around FISP, maize production and purchase subsidies have created a forcing context that seems to discourage crop diversification; this is particularly acute in the areas (esp. the current region, Western) that I've worked in that are marginal at best for maize production; to whit, our district average maize yield in Mongu was 0.38 t/ha ... that is like planting two football fields to maize and getting 8 x 50kg bags. To put that in context, farmers in Iowa achieve something like >8t/ha; even commercial farmers here achieve 5~6t/ha. Farmers grow maize due to it's historically monolithic support by the government, and any move away from that is a step in the right direction. Mark my words ... it will be a shock to the agricultural system of Zambia as significant as an ecological event. 

Below are scans of the leaflet released two weeks ago (the English version and the Lozi translation).