A Week with Dr. Juliani

The week of June 19^th, ASNAPP-Zambia was playing host to Professor Rodolfo Juliani, from Rutgers State University, New Jersey, USA.  Dr. Juliani is a partner with ASNAPP in the US and oversees quality control and product development of ASNAPPs various natural products and conducts chemical analysis for ASNAPP on the products it is promoting.  Dr. Juliani was here specifically to evaluate a number of crop cluster, as well as work on development for mungongo and geranium products in the Lusaka area.  Also on his itinerary was a visit to Chipata to see some of the activities going on as part of the Chinyanja Triangle Project.

 

The Chinyanja Triangle project is a project involving the Eastern Province of Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique.  The three areas form a triangle, and are named after the predominant language spoken in these three areas, Chinyanja.  The project incorporates fruit and vegetable growers, paprika growers and various agro-forestry programs.

 

The first place of visit on Dr. Juliani’s visit was the Shiyala Community School.  This school, near Chongwe, east of Lusaka, is mainly for orphan children.  Dr. Juliani visited this school on his last visit to Zambia.  On his return to the US, he made a presentation to his daughter’s nursery school, which were inspired to help these children, and sent along a number of books, as well as artwork for the children of the Shiyala School.  Dr. Juliani also laid the groundwork for additional cooperation between his daughter’s school and the Shiyala School in the future.  Shiyala also is the home of a group of women who are involved with an ASNAPP vegetable growers project, as well as the site of a Moringa and Lemongrass nursery.

 

Next we traveled to Arulusa Farms, North of Lusaka in the Chisamba area. Here we met with Peter Gatt.  Arulusa Farms is an essential oil producer. They produce oils from Tea Tree, geranium, lemon grass, among others.  The lemon grass oil is specifically made into soap and other products, which are sold locally along with some of their other products in the department store chain Shop-Rite.  A bulk of their oil produced is sold as export overseas.

 

On Tuesday, we departed for Chipata, which is about 500 km east of Lusaka, on the Eastern most edge of Zambia, on the Malawi Border.   The traveling group consisted of Dr. Juliani, Dr. Daka, Mr. Malumo, the Mr. Sakala, our driver and myself.  The trip took approximately 7 hours due to some poor road conditions.  Upon arrival at Chipata we met with Jones Chitondo, an ASNAPP-Zambia Staff member, who is in Chipata setting up a new field office there, as well with Eularia Zulu Syamujaye, who is with the Lutheran World Federation, and works in the Rural Community Development and Empowerment Program.

 

Wednesday Morning we set out for our first stop in a day of field visits.  We visited the Msekera Research Station and Agro-Forestry centre.  This station is a joint project between Government (Ministry of Agriculture) and ICRAF and is the site of some of ASNAPP’s paprika trials.  Here we met with Gillian Kabwe who is the site project manager with ICRAF and Dr. S Lungu.  The site is also conducting biomass transfer experiments, which involves using organic materials as fertilizers.

 

One particular organic material studied here is the Glicidia Sepium tree.  The leaves of this tree form an excellent natural fertilizer for soil.  It can be used to both revitalize depleted soils, as well as supplement productive soils.  The research conducted at this station involved establishment/propagation methods.  Methods studied were: polyethylene pots, bare root transplant, direct sowing and cuttings.

 

The experiments conducted found that the best and most economical method was the bare root transplant method.  The experiment has now progressed into a management stage, where different techniques are being studied in regards to managing a stand of trees and harvesting the leaves.  The Dry leaves which fall from the tree naturally can also be utilized, however the nutrient content is not as high, but it does exhibit a longer residual effect vs. green leaves.  The tree can be intercropped with Maize and has been shown to increase the yield of a maize field by up to 4 times.

 

From Msekera, we made a quick stop at Radio Maria, a catholic radio station so that Dr. Juliani, Dr. Daka and Mr. Malumo could provide a quick interview for a program, which highlights the activities/programs of NGO’s operating in the area.

 

Our Final destination was the village of Mugabe.  The village is located very close to the Zambia – Malawi Border.  Here we visited Jerry, a vegetable farmer.  Jerry is very fortunate as his farm is situated in what is called Dambos or wetlands.  Here the water table is very high, and often places at the surface.  Combine the easy water access with very fertile soil,  has allowed Jerry to establish a large and very productive farm.  He grows a large variety of fruits and vegetables.  

 

On Thursday we departed Chipata for Lusaka, and en route stopped in the village of Katete to visit a farmers co-operative who mainly produce citrus fruits.  HOTCOP (for Horticultural Cooperative) as the cooperative calls is self, incorporates a variety of levels of farmers, from the small-scale vulnerable farmer to the large-scale plantation farmers, which we visited this day.  This visit was almost a first contact visit for ASNAPP.  The main purpose was to make contact with the cooperative and lay some groundwork for ASNAPP assistance.  The main complaints that farmers in this area have is that they have a difficult time accessing inputs such as fertilizers, as well as accessing markets.  The closure of several processing plants in Zambia has lead to a decline in the market, and an increase in cost for transportation to any remaining processing plants.  Sales to the open market have declined in the face of stiff competition from imported citrus from South Africa and are not sufficient for the survival of all the farmers.  Water is not a major concern in this area, as it is situated at the foot of some large hills, which have many water springs, which can be, and are tapped for irrigation purposes.  ASNAPP’s proposed role in the assistance of this group of farmers will be to facilitate market linkages with processors around Zambia, and perhaps facilitate a local pre processing facility.

 

The final day with Dr. Juliani took us to the Nanga National Irrigation Research Station near Mazabuka.  The station was hosting a field day, whose theme was: “Sustainable Agricultural Growth through Irrigation Research and Development”.  On display were the various experiments and works that the research station is currently conducting, as well as various small-scale irrigation systems, which farmers can implement such as drip irrigation.  ASNAPP had a stand at the field day, in an area, which showcased some natural products and their uses as medicinal plants.  The main item on display at the ASNAPP stand was Morringa, which ASNAPP is actively promoting as “the Miracle Tree” for it’s wide variety of nutrients and uses.

 

The Farm in the wetlands was a very exciting thing to see, not only for myself but all the ANSAPP staff.  Jerry is a model farmer.  He tries various techniques suggested to him and adopts what works, and has established a successful farm.  With perhaps 36 million hectares of wetlands such as the ones Jerry’s farm is situated on, there is a great possibility for more productive farms such as Jerry’s.  However the productive farms do come at an expense.  Wetlands are an important part of an ecosystem, as they provide homes to many animals and plants, as well as an integral part of the water shed.  Converting natural wetlands into farm lands can cause major damage to a local ecosystem.  This is something that definitely must be studied before any promotion of agriculture on wetland areas is promoted, as the wetlands are a great resource, for possible agriculture, but also intact, in their natural state.