Food Security Zambia Project #10448

Seeds for Life in Zambia

by The Butterfly Tree

Project Report | May 17, 2024
BOREHOLES, WATER SYSTEMS AND FOOD SECURITY

By Jane Kaye-Bailey | Founder

Borehole for Ndele Health Post

The Butterfly Tree, founded in 2006, recently another successful year. In addition to developing more schools and a new health post, we installed boreholes (wells) and initiated sustainable income-generating projects for women and young people with disabilities, to provide food security.

Last month we successfully drilled three boreholes for Nguba Secondary school, and Kamusiku and Monono Primary schools to share with their surrounding villages. Kasiya community also received a borehole where a training centre is to be built from women and local communities to learn about the best practices in agriculture. The participants will be given free training from an agronomist at the centre.

This month we have drilled an additional four boreholes for Katado primary school, Siayamu and Masumu Muyumu community schools, for a new health post at Ndele, and for a women's community projects in Senkobo. Funding is in place to drill three more boreholes and for installation of solar-powered water reticulation systems.

On the 1st March, the President, Hakainde Hichilema, declared the prolonged dry spells in Zambia as a National Disaster and Emergency. ‘Today, with heavy heart, we address you, as our beloved country faces a severe drought, the worst of its kind, caused by the El Niño weather conditions in the 2023/24 rain season and influenced by climate change.’

With no further rain expected until October food is in short supply in the villages where people depend on home grown food. In March vegetable seedlings failed to grow, despite communities having irrigation systems, because of the extreme heat. During my recent visit to Zambia, everywhere I drove I saw the crops that had perished due to lack of rain. I met elderly women whose only source of food were nuts and wild vegetables collected in the bush.

We are currently developing and advancing more community projects to provide food security. Most of these will be managed by women at Senkobo, Musokotwane, Siambalele and Sekute. Each group will be growing fruit and vegetables for their own consumption and for the tourist market. Livingstone, the main town in the area, is the capital of tourism. In addition we have initiated chicken rearing and vegetable growing projects in Mukuni, Ngandu and Kamwi villages to empower young people with physical and mental health challenges.

We are appealing for donation to buy bags of ground maize to help vulnerable children and the elderly. A 25 kg bag of maize costs £10 ($13) and will feed a family of four for three weeks. All money raised will be used for this purpose only, nothing will be deducted for administration fees.

Thank you to all our donors who have provided funds for our food and water projects.

Women only have nuts and wild vegetables to eat

Failed maize crop

Links:

The Butterfly Tree May Newsletter

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Jan 29, 2024
CROPS, VEGETABLE GROWING AND CHICKEN REARING

By Jane Kaye-Bailey | Chairman

Preparing the ground for Sorghum

The Butterfly Tree received a substantial donation to fund a project to empower young people with disabilities. The project will take the form of an income-generating cooperative and has been divided into three sections.

N’gandu Village growing crops – a number of young people have been selected to participate in this project. As the project develops more will join. A piece of land was given to the group from the senior headman. The land has been ploughed and sorghum is being planted. Due to the current situation with poor and intermittent rains in the Southern Province of Zambia we were advanced not to grow maize and not to plant early this season. Maize is totally rain dependent in this area and this season the rains started late. Though maize is the staple diet of most Zambians, Sorghum is highly nutritious and packed with vitamins and antioxidants.
Mukuni Village chicken rearing – a number of young people have been selected, some from the special education class and others with mental health and physical disabilities. Training will take place while a chicken coop is being built. In addition to our local team the head teacher from special education and also a retired teacher have offered to volunteer their time to assist these young people.
Kamwi Village vegetable growing –a borehole was successfully drilled. Though water is now readily available we have delayed the sowing of seeds. The reason is because the government in October 2023 advised everyone to plant early, saying the rains would come early. However, the rains did not come early and when they came, they were spasmodic and brought unprecedented storms. Therefore, we chose to sow the seeds at a later date and nothing has been lost.

We are very grateful for this support and to all the people who have donated boreholes, seeds and fertilizer.

One of the participants in the project

Links:

The Butterfly Tree Newsletter

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Nov 16, 2023
BOOST FOR FOOD AND WATER PROJECTS

By Jane Kaye-Bailey | Founder

New vegetable-growing project for Mukuni women

Three substantial donations are providing more food production units and boreholes for schools and communities.

In the past month we have received a donation to install four boreholes and food production enterprises. A further donation to install four additional boreholes and a grant to initiate an agricultural project to empower young people with physical and mental challenges, and those living with HIV.

Without water and food there is no life. People living in remote communities in Zambia are being impacted by climate change. There has been no rain since April and rivers and streams are dry, and the rain pattern is changing. Normally rains fall between November and April, but this year in the lead up to the rains the Southern Province of Zambia has been experiencing unprecedented temperatures for the past month, soaring to 42 degrees celsius.

The new project to empower young people will offer sixty participants an opportunity to grow vegetables and crops, and to rear chicken. The aim is to provide them with a sustainable income-generating cooperative. Twenty young people will grow vegetables in Kamwi Village, twenty will grow crops in Ng'andu Village and twenty will rear chickens in Mukuni. All will revceive professional training and three from each village will be able to attend short skilled courses at college. The project will include a workshop, a chicken coop and a grinding mill.

To kick-start the above project a borehole for the vegetable growing project at Kamwi has been installed. Boreholes are also being drilled this week at Guta and Bbombwe Lyangoma schools in a remote areas of Nyawa. Two more women's project in Musokotwane and Mukuni Chiefdom are being initiated and will each will be given a borehole, seeds and fertilizer, and tools. The land for tese projects, including the empowerment of young people with disabilities, has been freely given by the village senior headmen.

In the lead up to Christmas and for GivingTuesday on the 28th November we will be raising funds for bags of ground maize to distribute amongst widows, the elderly, and orphans. A bag of maize costs $10 or £7 and can feed a family of four for three weeks.

Vegetable growing

Drilling - Guta Primary school

Links:

The Butterfly Tree Newsletter - November 2023

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