Producing our Own Food

The world economy depends on agriculture and a country cannot be said to be really independent if it is not able to produce enough food for all its citizens. Mthunzi boys are aware of these basic truth, For this reason, those who have completed secondary school and awaits their results together with those going to college have engaged themselves in agriculture production.This is in view of increasing the quantity and quality of the food available to all people living around Koinonia. In mid-January they have sown carrots, eggplants and green peppers.

The boys have made up a daily routine program that start early in the morning at 5.30hrs. Each one has his own duties in the vegetable garden or in the orchard where we have a lot of fruit trees, like oranges, lemons and guavas. Weeding and slashing are the main jobs nowadays, since the rainy season caused the grass to grow very fast.

The income from the sales, after meeting the Mthunzi boys’ needs, will be used for transport to school and clothing. Since lemons are in season, we have started selling them and the bursar of the group, Moses Chimwanga is already building up a small treasurer.

The production of food in our area is not enough since the population has increased in the last years and local people have to travel to the main market in town to buy foods stuff that could be produced here at Mthunzi. We hope little by little to build up a food producing unit that will include eggs and chicken and supply the villages around us, like Kasupe, Tubalange, Chigwirizano, and Chikondano only just to mention a few areas we target.

Mother Zambia has a very fertile land for crop production. Agriculture could become a major source of income and employment; instead the government in power from independence up to now has relied only on mining (copper and other metals) for the development of our country. We want in our small way contribute to a change of mentality.

By Mike Mwenda