State urged to help small scale women farmers

By SITEMBILE SIWAWA

GOVERNMENT has been implored to help boost the farming methods for small-scale women farmers in the country.

In an interview recently, Mitengo Women Association chairperson Melania Chipungu said women farmers were still stuck with old farming methods.

Ms Chipungu said small-scale women farmers still use hoes to farm large tracts of land.

She noted “the last 50 years, a small-scale woman farmer has not done much to contribute to national food security because of the old farming methods she is using.”

Ms Chipungu said women farmers also required modern methods of farming such tractors and irrigation systems; they have the potential to contribute to national food security once empowered with modern equipment.

“Despite the challenges we are having, we are still able to make money and send our children to school and clothe ourselves,” she said.

Meanwhile, East and Southern Africa Small-Scale Farmers Forum (ESAFF) national coordinator Simon Mwamba said in a separate interview that the last 50 years, small-scale women farmers have not been adequately attended to. They have been restricted mainly to chicken-rearing.

He said Government needs to initiate programmes of sustainability for women farmers. “There is need to expose women farmers to modern technology and reduce commercialisation of crops,” he lamented.

And Mr Mwamba said Government should also initiate programmes on climate changes as it is also adversely affecting women.  

Justina Mutale hits African Diaspora Professional Women in Europe (ADIPWE) top 20 list for 2014

Justina Mutale

London: Justina Mutale, African Woman of the Year 2012 who is also 2014 Africa Goodwill Ambassador, has been named in the 2014 International Women’s Day Top 20 Inspirational African Diaspora Professional Women in Europe (ADIPWE List 2014) released on 28th March 2014.

 

The ADIPWE List was founded in the year 2011 to mark the 100th Anniversary of International Women’s Day.  Each year in March, the African Diaspora Professional Women in Europe (ADIPWE) compiles a list of inspirational women of African origin living in Europe and elsewhere in the Diaspora.

 

 

The ADIPWE Top 20 List celebrates the success of African Women in Europe and also gives visibility to African Women who have achieved phenomenal success, but are still unknown. The List aims to inspire a new generation of African Women and to share ideas to fulfill their potential to contribute to the rebranding of Africa and the development of the continent, by identifying opportunities to transfer the vast amount of knowledge gained in Europe and the rest of the Diaspora.

 

The ADIPWE List is a result of votes cast from the African Diaspora community on who they find to be inspirational.  The reasons the listed women are found to be inspirational are included in their profiles.

 

 

Justina Mutale is an international speaker, philanthropist, humanitarian, HIV/AIDS and Human Rights activist.  She is the Founder & CEO of POSITIVE RUNWAY, an international social development organization registered on the United Nations Department for Social and Economic Affairs (UNDESA) Civil Society Database and runs a worldwide HIV/AIDS response campaign spanning six continents.

 

 

Others named on the 2014 ADIPWE List include Lupita Nyong’o, (Kenya), Actress, Film and Music Video Director; Dambisa Moyo (Zambia), Economist and Author; Femi Oke (Nigeria),Television Presenter and Journalist; Swaady Martin-Leke (Cote-d’Ivoire),Founder & CEO YSWARA; Bella Ikpasaja (Nigeria), Founding Editor Zeitgeist Africa; Jesssica Shelver (South Africa), Campaigner; Magatte Wade (Senegal) Serial-entrepreneur; Grace Amey-Obeng (Ghana), CEO FC Group of Companies; Amina Gerba (Cameroun), President and Founder of Kariliss; Hannah Acquah (Ghana), Economist, Social Entrepreneur; Hawa Dème (Mali), Chief Compliance & Internal Control Officer;  Sophie Ekoue (Togo), Journalist and Author; Amina Odidi (Nigeria), Co-Chief Scientific Officer & Director, IntelliPharmaCeutics; Agnes Giteau (Kenya), Trade Consultant – East Africa; Mina Salami (Nigeria), Award-Winning Blogger, Writer and Commentator; Ada Maduakoh (Nigeria), Director/Managing Partner, Sandown Corporate Ltd; Pauline Long (Kenya), Founder and Producer, BEFFTA Awards; Sophia Bekele (Ethiopia), Tech entrepreneur; and Wendy Luhabe (South Africa), Businesswoman & Author.

Women, youth key players in agro - NEPAD

By SITEMBILE SIWAWA
NEW Economic Partnership in African Development (NEPAD) says women and young people play a key role in agriculture and its future.
NEPAD chief executive officer Ibrahim Assane Mayaki said in a statement that agriculture in Africa can only accelerate if women are included.
Mr Mayaki said integrating women and reducing social inequalities will also preserve natural resources and the environment.
He also said agriculture has the potential to help in the creation of jobs for the youths.
“Women are the backbone of African rural agriculture and the guardians of the continent’s food security.”
“Women’s formal and informal work plays a crucial role in the economic development of sub-Saharan African countries with more than 64 percent of women working in the agricultural sector,” he said.
And Mr Mayaki said gender should be part and parcel in the formulation of agricultural policies.
He said this will contribute to improved production techniques and having women have better access
to agricultural inputs such as land, fertiliser, credit and education.
“We will see women participating more in decision-making process and better salaried job opportunities,” said Mr Mayaki.
Meanwhile, Mr Mayaki lamented that women have continued being discriminated against in the labour market.
“Their access to land is equally limited and of lower quality than men and are often ignored in rural development projects, which tend to target male-dominated activities,” he said.

‘Zambia needs sustainable population’

By SITEMBILE SIWAWA












UNITED Nations Population Fund reproductive health specialist Stephen Mupeta says Zambia needs a sustainable population which can only be attained through the use of family planning services.

Speaking in an interview with Femail recently, Dr Mupeta said Zambia should be concerned with the population that can be managed properly.
Dr Mupeta said the use of family planning services helps a country plan for its citizens and offer quality incentives. He said parents should also look at the cost implications of having so many children.
“Zambia should not be concerned with having a bigger population to fill up the vast land the country has but rather we need a population that is sustainable and one that enjoys quality life,” he said.
The doctor said failure by couples to plan has contributed to high maternal deaths in the country.

“You cannot compare the life of a woman to that of a block-making machine which can be repaired when it is unserviceable. The life of a woman cannot be replaced as she can die due to having many children.”
Dr Mupeta also said family planning is not meant to deter people from having children but rather to help them have families that they can easily manage.
Dr Mupeta has also dismissed claims that oral contraceptives do have long term side effects on girls who start taking them when they are younger.

Although, he said that minor side effects such as minor headache and weight gain are associated to contraceptive use.
“There has been a lot of talking on abstinence, unfortunately it has yielded nothing, the best thing is to advise girls to use contraceptives to avoid them dropping out of school,” Dr Mupeta said.
Dr Mupeta is of the view that girls should not shun birth controls due to the myths that they can be sterile in future.

Inculcate good morals in children - NGO

By SITEMBILE SIWAWA



PARENTS play a crucial role in ensuring that they inculcate good morals in their children to avoid juvenile delinquency in society, a child rights activist has said.
Media Network on Child Rights and Development executive Henry Kabwe said this on Wednesday following the recent arrest of school pupils in Chingola who held a sex party.

Mr Kabwe also said society should not be quick to link juvenile delinquency to the promotion of children’s rights.
“It is unfortunate that most parents and guardians are running away from their responsibility of inculcating good morals in children. This is a ‘crisis’ to the nation.
The sex party which those children had is a direct link to failure by parents to take-up their obligations.

We need to establish where the parents were when the act happened,” he said.
Mr Kabwe said parents should also be concerned that children are engaging in illicit activities due to technological advancements, such as the internet.
In a separate interview, Children in Need Network executive director Theresa Mwansa described the recent sex party as a child protection concern, signalling parents’ failure to pay particular attention to what their children are doing.
Ms Mwansa said academic excellence should go hand-in-hand with the promotion of good morals in schools.
“Academic excellence alone is not good enough; it must be accompanied with good morals. We must take a holistic approach in the up-bringing of our future generation,” Ms Mwansa said

Protecting children's right a challenge, says Info PS

By SITEMBILE SIWAWA


MINISTRY of Information and Broadcasting Services permanent secretary Stephen Mwansa says protecting children's rights and voices still remains a challenge.

Mr Mwansa says the 2013 media monitoring report findings reveal that out of 9,859 stories recorded over a five-month period from 10 targeted media houses, only 530 were on children.

He said this at the 2013 media monitoring showcase and report launch on Saturday in a speech read for him by director of press and media development Isaac Chipampe.

Mr Mwansa said in a country where children make about 53 percent of the population, it is vital that they are made prominent in all types of news reporting.

"The way the media portrays children today will determine how they will develop in future," Mr Mwansa said.

He, however, commended the media for striving not only in giving coverage to children but also doing so in an ethical manner.

Mr Mwansa said "on a notable improvement in reporting, trends also show the increment of protection and promotion of child rights from 97 percent to 99 per cent in 2013."

And speaking at the same function, Save the Children director of programmes Beyant Kabwe noted that the media now reports more ethically on children than before.

Mr Kabwe said the media has now realised the importance of reporting on children.

He said: "the media has also given children opportunities to participate through various platforms and this is evident in the programmes that have been created on both electronic and print media."

Work hard, don't depend on men'

By SITEMBILE SIWAWA

Mrs Mulenga in her maize field-Picture by Sitembile Siwawa

SHE has sworn that age will not deter her from realising her dreams of becoming one of the successful female farmers in the country.

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.