| Mrs Mulenga in her maize field-Picture by Sitembile Siwawa |
Felistus Mulenga, 61, is also not a commercial farmer who uses modern methods of farming; hers is unique because she still uses a hoe to till her five-acre piece of land.
Although she operates as a small-scale farmer in Lusaka's Ibex Hill, Ms Mulenga now boasts of having built a five-bedroom house.
With the aid of her husband, Ms Mulenga also boasts of adequately managing her family including her grandchildren.
This mother of eight recounts: "I pay for my child's college fees and I have also been paying for my grandchildren's school fees."
Ms Mulenga has only been into serious farming business for the past three years. She was prompted to engage in farming after encountering various problems at personal and family level.
"I used to encounter a couple of problems and I thought I needed to do something about it and what came to mind was farming. I also needed to pay for my son and grandchildren's school fees.
Farming proved to be lucrative business," Ms Mulenga said. The problems she encountered made her realise that there are so many solutions to life's challenges, especially for women.
"I engaged into serious farming business three years ago and when I started, I only used to grow maize because I thought it was the only crop which could grow during the rainy season," she recounts.
Through her involvement with Mitengo Women's Association, Ms Mulenga was trained in various farming practices in different crops.
Mitengo Women Association is a non-profit- making organisation with a focus of reaching out to female peasant farmers in Chongwe and transforming their lives through capacity building programmes and income-generating activities.
"When I first grew tomatoes during one rainy season, I had such a good yield and sold quite a lot. This encouraged me to diversify into a variety of crops," Ms Mulenga said.
The profit she realised from the tomatoes encouraged her further to take farming as a full-time business with a view to diversifying into different kinds of crops such as cabbage, white robe, beans, potatoes and okra.
She also manages a mini-orchard. One of her major challenges is the lack of a ready market for her produce.
"My produce is not easy to sell. This is because similar goods are sold at every selling point. The business is very competitive.
I also lack modern equipment such as tractors and irrigation equipment," Ms Mulenga said. Due to her inability to make enough money, she has been unable to open a bank account.
Ms Mulenga has since appealed to Government to assist women small-scale farmers in their endeavours.
Ms Mulenga said: "Women farmers lack money to transport their produce to right markets. We need Government to help us with grants. This, we believe, could help us enhance our capital base."
She has since urged women to work hard and not depend on men for survival. "Women should work hard to survive in life.
It is unfortunate that some women engage in promiscuous activities because they cannot fend for themselves," she said.
Ms Mulenga said there are so many things women can do and that it is wrong for one to be unproductive.
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