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Jasinta led the way along a well trodden path through the maize fields of her village. We followed about 25 farmers from the Mpongwe area and Robert and me. I could hear the exclamations before I reached her field: “This is local maize?” Yes, it is folks, local maize planted the CF (conservation farming) way.

Jasinta is happy to teach her fellow farmers how to grow a wonderful crop of corn using CF methods. (Photo by Marianne Stamm)

What excited these farmers so much is that she used totally local products, local maize seed (probably her own), manure, and ashes. She now has the knowledge to grow a good crop to feed her family even when there’s no seed or fertilizer to be had. This is especially important as she’s a widow, the sole bread winner of the family.

Millers don’t like local maize (versus the hybrid varieties from seed companies), claiming it is harder to mill. Many rural families plant it anyway, for their own food. They can’t afford hybrid seed or fertilizer. Their crops usually look poor, leaving them hungry for part of the year. These farmers have never seen local maize looking like Jasinta’s.

We paid for Jasinta to go to Masaiti and take the week long CF training course last August. Back home she applied the methods to a small field. She says the course was too late in the year to prepare a larger area or to train others as she would have liked to.

Jasinta shows that local maize can be grown successfully using CF methods. (Photo by Marianne Stamm)

Jasinta also has a loan from us for fertilizer and hybrid seed. She planted that using traditional methods but employing the lessons we taught the group over the last two years about proper seeding depths, rates, weeding, timing, etc. That field is also looking very well, but she says she can repay the loan from the CF field, if she had to.

It’s so exciting to see this woman pass on her knowledge. The day before we met with the Mpongwe farmers that have small loans from us and once again preached CF. They are listening more all the time. But it is when they see one of their own people with such success that they realize; this is real and it can be done and it must be done.

We had no problems finding two people to accompany Robert and myself to the CF training week at Masaiti starting this Tuesday. We feel it is time we took the training ourselves, so we are better equipped to train others. The folks at Masaiti are keen to work with us and give us any help we need.

Yesterday I marched along with my Zambian sisters for ‘equal rights, equal opportunities, progress for all’. It was International Women’s Day, which in Zambia is taken seriously enough to be made a national holiday. I am sure there were far over a thousand women taking part in the parade, most dressed in some form of the chitenge, the bright African patterned cloth which is a strong symbol of the Zambian woman.

The theme of International Women's Day in Kitwe was: equal rights, equal opportunities, progress for all. (Photo by Marianne Stamm)

It is fitting that my first march for women’s rights should take place in Zambia. It was here that I first realized the privilege of equal rights and opportunities that I enjoy as a Canadian woman. We forget easily the battles women before us fought so that we can vote, own property in our own name, take public and executive office, and stand as equal partners with our spouses.

Grace Mikunga, chairwoman of the organizing committee of the Woman’s Day parade, said in her opening address, “A lot more needs to be done and it needs to be done at lightning speed.” As long as men still call in to the radio open lines and dare to say, choked with emotion, that women should not be equal, that they shouldn’t be fighting for such rights; as long as men lined up along the sidewalks still taunt us women as we march past saying, “so you won’t wash for us, don’t worry, we’ll find someone else!”, or “In the evening prepare yourself, don’t say you are tired” (in other words, be prepared to do your duties), there is still work to be done.

As long as it is still commonplace that men beat their women; that they come from the bar at midnight and expect them to get up and start a fire and cook them something to eat after the women have worked hard all day – there is work to do.

Here I am, marching in the middle of my group of women from Mindolo Ecumenical Foundation. (Photo by Marianne Stamm)

Zambian women have the right to vote and actually turn out in larger numbers than men to do so. There are women in ministerial positions in government, and in executive positions in companies. But the lot of the common woman is still closer to that of a servant than that of an equal.

I am privileged to be allowed to march with these women, to for a few moments support their struggle towards equality with men. They are pleased that I marched with them.

Vivienne Mutale, when I asked her if there wasn’t a worthy woman for President among this large group said: “Wait another ten years.” I hope she’s right.

We’re becoming evangelists – conservation farming (CF) evangelists. Whenever we talk to farmers we preach CF. The fields we’ve seen this week speak their own message loud and clear – CF pays, both for the land and for the farmer.

Peter Ngandu can rightly be proud of his field of soybeans, planted using conservation farming methods. (Photo by Marianne Stamm)

Peter Ngandu stands proudly in front of his plot of soybeans, planted using CF methods. He’s been doing CF for the sixth year now. We visited the mission farm two years ago and can see the development that comes with experience. Peter’s soybeans can take it up with any large commercial farmer. So can his maize (corn) and sunflowers.

“There are five rules for conservation farming,” Peter tells us. 1. No burning of trash. 2. Make permanent planting basins (dig holes where you plant, and plant in the same holes year after year). 3. Early land preparation – usually farmers start to plow (by hand or with oxen) when the first rains start. CF has the land ready for planting then. 4. Continuous weeding – farmers tend to weed once, maybe twice and then let the weeds grow. 5. Rotate your crops.

CF isn’t just for the small scale farmer. Prominently situated along the main highway just outside the capital city of Lusaka, Dutch Gibson grows 60 hectares of maize using only a hoe and the CF method. “It takes four men or three women to plant a hectare of maize,” Dutch tells the group of 74 that we are part of. “Do the women get paid more?” someone calls out. Of course not…

Dutch Gibson, a strong proponent of conservation farming, is happy to tell farmers how to do a better job on their fields.(Photo by Marianne Stamm)

Gibson, who uses mechanized minimal tillage on the rest of his farm, works closely with Peter Aagaard at the Lusaka Conservation Farming Unit. In the foreword to the CF Handbook for Hoe Farmers, Aagaard writes:

“Farmers who adopt the simple and proven farming systems described in this Handbook can eliminate their dependency on food aid, produce excellent crops in all but the worst droughts, minimize their reliance on increasingly expensive fertilizers and regenerate rather than exploit the environments in which they live.

The distribution of food aid does not offer any long term solutions to the predicament of Africa’s rural communities. Food aid is a quick fix that addresses the immediate symptoms of a much more fundamental problem. In its most unbridled and cynical manifestations it extends dependency, distorts local markets and undermines the will of communities to adopt the farming systems that offer them the opportunity to extricate themselves from the indignity of depending upon others to feed them.” (Conservation Farming and Conservation Agriculture Handbook for Hoe Farmers in Agro-Ecological Regions 1 and 2 – Flat Culture, 2007 Edition)

Our experience confirms this. It is this message we preach, and more are listening all the time.

The world is lush green, the cassia trees blooming bright yellow. The power is out. A young girl with a baby on her back begs for money. The side roads are so pothole ridden they’re hard to navigate. Welcome to Zambia!

Flying over the Libyan desert, we were surprised to see these large dots - irrigated crop circles, where otherwise there is nothing for hours. (Photo by Marianne Stamm)

We’re privileged to be here; for a little while to share the lives of some of the people. It’s wonderful and hard at the same time, a roller coaster of emotions as usual.

Eva Sanderson is more excited than ever at the possibilities of conservation farming for the small scale farmers. It’s great to hear how many have taken the methods and applied them to their fields with good results. On Saturday we will join her group for a tour of some successful conservation farmers and learn more.

Vivienne Mate, the director’s secretary at MEF (Mindolo Eucumenical Foundation, where we stay), bought her own land. She was at the farm on Saturday – a two hours’ walk from the highway – and brought back enthusiastic reports of how well the maize and soybeans are growing. She has plans to build a house and increase the acreage in the next few years. She is a woman of action – I believe she will do it.

Tito Chisanshi planted five hectares of maize for the first time last year with a friend. The crop was doing well when we left last April. Half the crop was stolen before harvest, by the nephew of his friend who was supposed to be looking after it. The other half they harvested and stored in the village, where it was sold. But they still haven’t seen any money. That, sadly, is a normal story for Zambia.

Rainstorms are frequent right now in Zambia. So are trucks transporting people everywhere - in rain or shine! (Photo by Marianne Stamm)

Ruth Myanza planted a small market garden near town, by her son’s place. She let the garden go, because she was ‘sharing’ half the produce with others – again, theft. She is part of Eva’s co-op, which has a contract to grow Bird’s Eye Chilies, but the chilies are not thriving as well as they should. The contract is for organic produce.

The director of MEF told me his gardener took part in our conservation farming field days last year and has applied the methods with great success and has started his own field. The director would like to come to some workshops and learn more about conservation farming.

Bukuumo Cooperative came to the conclusion that they should sell most of their assets and pay back the loan that we provided to them, as they are not moving forward. Sometimes you have to cut your losses. Things have not turned out as they planned.

So we hear stories of success and failure. We are encouraged by the successes and know that failure is part of learning; is inevitable when moving ahead, but especially in development work. You evaluate it, strive to learn from it and move on.

Farmers and parliament in Switzerland have a close relationship, especially on Tuesday mornings. Parliament members looking for healthy snacks just have to walk out the door for a choice of apples, savoury cheeses, sausages and breads fresh from the farm. Tuesday morning is Farmers’ Market Day at the ‘Bundesplatz’ (parliament square) in Bern, the capital city of Switzerland.

Every Tuesday farmers set up their market before the Swiss Parliament buildings. (Photo by Marianne Stamm)

Walter Stettler and his family from Boettigen, canton Bern, sell up to 20 varieties of apples from their own orchards. On 2.5 hectares (6.25 acres) they grow many of the older variety of apples no longer available in most grocery stores – such as my favorite, the Cox Orange. Mrs. Stettler told me they are beginning to replace many of the old tall trees with the smaller newer varieties. The old varieties don’t produce as well, ‘si nid so gaebig'(aren’t as convenient), she says in the broad dialect of the region of Bern.

Stettler’s don’t just sell apples. Eggs, walnuts, squash, honey and apple juice all come from the farm. Other stands offer fresh vegetables – Chinese cabbage, corn salad, celeriac, beets, potatoes, carrots and some imported produce. – And two stands have fresh carrots, complete with the green foliage, straight from the patch! They were grown under cover, but not in the greenhouse. Special winter varieties?

The Stettler family sells up to 20 varieties of apples, many no longer available anywhere else. (Photo by Marianne Stamm)

Rebekka, a young woman at the Alphuesli stand, offers us a piece of Alp Cheese. She comes all the way from Arosa, canton Graubuenden, some hours drive away. The cheese was wonderful and I bought a large slice for those at home, along with a Birnbrot – a dried pear loaf that is a specialty of the Graubuenden. The Alphuesli supports small farmers and bakeries that need the extra help. Along with the cheese and Birnbrot they sell the famous dried Buendner meat, that sliced paper thin is a delicacy; and the Buendner walnut tart.

It was a cold damp day for market. The stands were wrapped in plastic and their owners in warm wraps. But that didn’t stop manty customers from shopping for fresh local produce straight from the farm.

Switzerland offers many varieties of cheese besides the well known Emmental (the one with the holes) - this Käser (cheese maker) makes his own cheese on the Alp. (Photo by Marianne Stamm)

My next farmer’s market will be quite different! The tomatoes will be hot from the sun, and on old burlap bags on the ground, watched carefully by dark women in colorful dresses. I’ll have to be careful about parasites, washing everything with bleach if I don’t intend to cook it well. And I will love it – the noise, the colors, the bright warmth of it all.

We fly Thursday morning, landing in Lusaka on Friday noon. Our friends are looking forward to seeing us, and we them. And oh, how I look forward to seeing the sun! It’s been ten days since the last sun here…

February 8, 2010: Up and down, up and down – my broken arm goes through the physio exercises. With only ten days to departure to Africa, I am motivated to get as much healing and movement back as quickly as possible. It’s coming nicely. Just don’t slip on an icy patch now!

A refugee woman from Eritrea sits beside me in church. Wistfully she remarks that the sun in Africa will heal my bone. Sunshine continues to be a rare commodity here – once every 7-10 days at best.

Winter hike of the Schleitheim farm women organisation. (Photo by Marianne Stamm)

Last Thursday was one of those rare sunny days. It was a perfect day for the annual winter hike of the Schleitheim Landfrauenverein – Farmwoman organization. Eight women and six children hiked over the snow covered hill to the Hohbrugg Restaurant. That’s one of the great things of living in Switzerland – there’s a restaurant at the end of every hiking trail.

I took the opportunity to find out what has changed for the Swiss farm women since we left in 1991. Lots, I was told. At that time few farm women worked away from the farm. Their help was needed at home. Sugar beets were thinned by hand; women helped rake the hay down the steeper hills, fed calves and of course did the housework and childcare.

Any farm woman with an ounce of pride had a vegetable garden, preserved the fruit from the many trees, and wouldn’t think of buying a loaf of bread or bringing anything less than a home baked cake to a community function.

And now? I was told it’s a luxury for a young woman to be kept by her farmer man. Mostly there’s no need either. Sugar beets are seeded at harvest distance; sheep graze the steep slopes and the calves drink out of automated feeders.

A lawn with a swing set covers the vegetable garden and the Co-op bakery makes a fine cake. Only the older generation would comment on the weeds along the hedge. The young women have other priorities – jobs, time for their children and their activities.

The first flowers brave the snow the first week of February. (Photo by Marianne Stamm)

One thing hasn’t changed much. Most farm houses are still home to two generations. That surprises me a little – I know too well the tensions that such close living arrangements can cause. Sure, there are always two separate apartments with their own entrances now. My mother-in-law still cooked and lived with her in-laws.

It has its good sides. Grandma is right there to babysit – a service many take advantage of. Two of the hiking women were Grandmas with their grandchildren, and they seemed to be enjoying every minute.

How many of you, when you shop for coffee or bananas or chocolate look for the Fair Trade label? I must admit, I don’t. I look for my favorite brand of espresso.

The co-op in Schleitheim only carries fair trade bananas. (Photo by Marianne Stamm)

I’m not alone. The ‘Kirchenbote’, newspaper of the Swiss reformed church, discussed the fair trade issue in its last issue, February 2010. They quote Ulrich Thielemann, business ethicist from St. Gallen University, Switzerland as saying that the power of the market is stronger than our good intentions.

Here in Schleitheim, a village of 1700 persons, the only grocery store – a small Co-op – carries several kinds of Fair Trade coffee under different brands. They only sell Max Haavelar bananas. Obviously some consumers have more than just good intentions.

Max Haavelar is a fair trade organization. On Wikipedia I read (google Max Haavelar foundation): “The label, used to distinguish Fairtrade products from conventional ones, aims to improve “the living and working conditions of small farmers and agricultural workers in disadvantaged regions.”

The same ‘Kirchenbote’ article went on to say that the Swiss farmer needed fair trade too, that one third of Swiss farmers struggle because they don’t receive fair prices for their products – prices that cover the cost of production and provide a decent living for the family.

The co-op also carries an assortment of Fair Trade chocolate and coffee products. (Photo by Marianne Stamm)

I’m sure many Canadian farmers – just think of the beef or hog industry – feel they need more Fair Trade too.

Buying local produce, ‘made in Canada’ (or wherever you live) products, visiting farmers markets, and ‘the hundred mile diet’ are ways we can help improve living conditions for our local farmers. Really caring – taking action – requires more energy and yes, sometimes more money.

The more consumers demand fair trade by their purchasing decisions the more power they can exert over the market. Just think of the European consumer that has to date successfully fought the fight against Monsanto and GMO products, and hormone free beef. Whether I agree with them or not; my hat is off to them.

Every year when we come back here to Switzerland the assortment of various fair trade items is larger. That tells me the consumer is buying more. That more translates into more families enjoying a better standard of living.

The consumer ultimately votes. That includes me. I’ll look out for bananas and chocolate – but I’ve never seen a decaffeinated fair trade coffee.

At a crop production meeting of the regional Swiss farm cooperative they discussed the use of an African plant as a green manure species. When I did some research on this plant (guizotia) I learned that CIDA (Canadian International Development Agency) is a partner to a research project in Africa to develop this plant for better utilization.

Guizotia is grown in Ethiopia and other African countries for its edible oil and seed. European farmers find the plant has a good fit as part of a seed mix for green manure, with its strong root system and quick growth. Most cereal crops in this part of the world (Switzerland) are winter crops – seeded in the fall and harvested in summer. Often a fast growing crop such as a legume or mustard is seeded after the cereals and then plowed under to enhance the soil before the next cash crop is planted.

Zambian commercial farmers sometimes grow a green manure crop to improve the fragile tropical soil. We saw fields of a crop that looked very much like the pictures of guizotia we were shown. I’ll have to check into that when we get to Zambia.

I was one of four women among about 65 men at the crop production meeting. A young woman caught my eye and I got a chance to speak briefly with her. Gabi Uelinger, who has a degree in biology, rents the farm from her parents. She and her father are well known for their work in preserving the biodiversity of native plant and small animal life as part of the mandate of the Swiss farmer.

A female farm manager is still an oddity in Switzerland, Gabi told me. That doesn’t mean Swiss farm women aren’t involved in farm decisions. But it seems the men are still the primary managers.

When Robert and I farmed in Switzerland I wouldn’t have thought to go to agricultural workshops either. It wasn’t until we grain farmed in Canada that I became an equal partner. And I was one of a handful of women at conferences and workshops there too.

Women are a strong presence at crop field days in Zambia. (Photo by Marianne Stamm)

It’s interesting that at the farm workshops Robert and I conduct in Zambia, women are a strong presence. Among small scale farmers women often run the farm, probably because the men just aren’t there. But men prevail among the commercial farmers.

We were to leave for Africa this Thursday, January 28. I broke my arm skiing in the Black Forest last Friday so we’ve had to rebook our flights for February 18. I’m disappointed, but it can’t be helped.

I can see the sun! After 12 grey days I am sun-starved. December/January in the lower mainland of Switzerland is often dreary. That’s when it’s good to take a day off and head for the mountains, usually only an hour or more away and soak in the brilliant sun radiating off glistening snow peaks.

Sunday we were in the mountains visiting my Aunt and Uncle in Schiers. Schiers is on the road to Davos where the big wigs of the world meet to discuss global issues (Davos Summit). We didn’t get as much sun as I hoped, but it was a memorable day none the less.

Salginatobel Bridge spans the chasm and connects Schuders to the world. (Photo by Marianne Stamm)

My relatives took us to see the Salginatobel Bridge, built in l929/30 by Swiss civil engineer Robert Maillart. A reinforced concrete arch bridge, it was declared a world monument by the American Society of Civil Engineers due to its design techniques which were advanced for its time. The bridge cost 135,000 Swiss Francs to build and 1.3 million US dollars to repair in l998…the Franc and US$ are almost par now. Read more on this fascinating bridge on Wikipedia.

Spanning a deep chasm, the bridge connects the tiny village of Schuders with the rest of the world. Before the bridge was there, Schuders’ 55 residents were often totally cut off during the winter months. Schuders consists mostly of small scale mountain farmers, some of which open their homes as bed and breakfast to tourists who want to hike and relax in the quiet wild splendor of the Praettigau mountains.

The narrow road to the bridge winds through mountain farm country. For farmers from the Canadian Prairie, it is hard to imagine how anyone can make a living clinging to those hillsides. No Swiss farmer could do it either without heavy subsidies from the government. Many of the barns we saw only hold about ten cows. But what would Switzerland be to tourists without well tended green pastures and the sound of cowbells tinkling in the clear air?

While still farming in Switzerland ourselves, Robert trained agricultural apprentices. One apprentice came from Pusserain, which we passed on the way to the bridge. We found the tiny farm, alone in a stretch between the woods and crags outside the village.

Farm buildings cling to the mountainside. Each set of buildings is a different farm, pasture and hay land so steep machinery can't always be utilized. (Photo by Marianne Stamm)

No wonder the poor fellow, just 16 at the time, had a hard time adjusting to life in the flatlands (as we call it). I remember Robert teaching him how to shower, and it just went on from there. I guess you could compare it to taking a boy from a cabin in the Rocky Mountains somewhere far from civilization and putting him on a modern farm in Stony Plain, just outside the city of Edmonton. Culture shock doesn’t just happen from Africa to Canada!

A list of things I need before we leave for Africa on January 28 – Artemisia tea leaves for malaria prophylaxis for us; Artemisia seed to bring to Zambians so they can grow their own; moringa seed for trees that are packed with nutrition. I need decaffeinated coffee for me as they never have any there, and two more skirts so I’ll be properly dressed in rural Kenya where we are going first. I can get away with longer Capri trousers in the more urban Kitwe area of Zambia but in rural Kenya there are still very few women wearing trousers of any kind. (I almost said pants – which Africans usually understand as underpants!) Skirts must definitely cover the knees.

Dressed culturally correct among our Zambian friends. (Photo by Marianne Stamm)

If we want to be taken seriously we must be culturally sensitive. When in Rome be like the Romans, when in Africa be like the Africans. Our picture of Africans is often of poverty, and so we imagine they dress poorly. Fact is, I am more likely to feel under-dressed among them. They take great pride in wearing clean pressed shirts and shiny dress shoes – taking a cloth along to dust their shoes after walking dirt roads. The younger urban generation though, now considers jeans and t-shirts to be dress clothing, going the opposite direction again.

We’re looking forward to seeing how our farmers in Mpongwe are doing with their crops this year. From what we’ve heard, the rains have been sufficient so far. They are also building a new church and community center, which friends in Canada and Switzerland have helped fund. The building will house a preschool and youth center. The church there recognizes the importance of better education for their children and also the need for a place for youth and adults to gather. They are planning literacy classes for adult, too many of whom cannot read or write. Literacy is an important step towards reduction of poverty.

The congregation burnt 10,000 bricks for the new church/community centre. (Photo by Marianne Stamm)

I sent an email to farmer friends some months ago encouraging them to use their cooking ashes on their fields and gardens. Vivienne Mate wrote back a few days ago, excited at what ashes have done for her produce. “It really works. So much more on pumpkins and beans.” That’s the best pay someone involved in development work can get.