TITLE: ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION, IMPACT OF LEGUMES ON SOIL

FERTILITY AND GENDER PERCEPTION ON LEGUME TECHNOLOGIES

AMONG SMALLHOLDER FARMERS IN KABWE

BACKGROUND

Land degradation and soil nutrient depletion have been a serious threat to agricultural
productivity in Sub-Saharan Africa. Most arable lands been affected by various forms of
degradation such as deforestation, large scale mining activities, un-monitored dumping of
waste and so, all of which are acting as agents reducing agricultural productivity which in
turn results in poor economic growth of countries (Bekele, 2003). Subsequently, this results
in extreme poverty and high incidents of food insecurity among populations that depend on
agriculture for livelihood. The continued threat to land resources is exacerbated by the need
to reduce poverty and poor farming practices, especially among small holder farmers.

Soil nutrition has become a serious threat to agricultural productivity in Sub-Saharan Africa.
It is for this call that legumes have been incorporated in various systems of subsistence
farming in Africa as they are known to play an important role nutrient cycling and nutrient
enrichment. They are considered as an engines for sustainable farming as they intensify the
productivity of crops by enhancing soil fertility. According to Bardgett et al (2014), legumes
boost the Nitrogen stocks through nitrogen fixation and nutrient release from their residues.

The improvement of soil fertility in smallholder farming systems has over the years been
rendered more difficult and complicated due to increasing scarcity of locally derived nutrient
sources. Research in many countries of Sub-Saharan Africa has documented that legumes
have the potential to sustain soil fertility which in turn increases crop productivity (Giller et
al, 1994).

A PESENTATION ON “SOIL MANAGEMENT AND INCREASING CROP YIELD”

BY THE SENIOR AGRICULTURAL OFFICER FOR KABWE DISTRICT MRS
PATRICIA NTINGA.

During her opening remarks, Mrs Ntinga gave a general overview of Kabwe District. In her
description, she asserted that of the ten (10) districts of Zambia, Kabwe is the smallest and is
located in Zambia’s Central Province covering a space of approximately 1,572 hectares. With

1
reference to its agro-ecology, Kabwe receives a rainfall range of 800mm to 1000mm, having
a temperature range of 18 to 24 Degrees Celcius.

In its District Organisation, Kabwe has an Advisory Board which is divided into different
sectors namely; The Extension Methodology Sector which emanates from The University of
Zambia comprising of intellectuals having knowledge on agro-ecology. This sector ensures
that reports dealing with agro-ecology are written by field officers. The second sector is the
“Crop Section”, which looks at various plant diseases and pests. The Irrigation Section aims
at providing mitigation measures that aim at combating climate change. These equip farmers
with various irrigation methods that supplement rainfall in terms of inadequate rainfall,
famines and droughts.

Strategies to land improvement include; conservation agriculture (broken into three

components; minimum soil disturbance, permanent soil cover and crop rotation) in which the
minimum tillage/soil disturbance reduces soil disturbance to minimum, increase soil
moisture, reduce erosion, reduces soil disturbance to a minimum, increase organic carbon in
the soil., increases soil structure and increases hydraulic conductivity and infiltration.
Permanent cover crop reduces soil erosion, holds soil during heavy rainfall, it provides
nutrients to the soil through fixing nitrogen into the soil and it also work as green manure. For
example, the velvet beans and other legumes which are in the category of velvet beans such
as macuna prurients, sebania sesbani, fold herbia albidah protect soil from running off when
there are heavy rainfall and hence makes the soil very fertile.

Crop rotation on the other hand is important in conservation agriculture in the sense that it
reduces pest’s disease, it helps improvement of the soil quality through nitrogen fixations, it
helps reduce risk associated with extreme weather, residue helps improve soil structure and
improves yields and it cuts off diseases in the fields were you rotate a legume and fixes
nitrogen in the soil. Crop residue management also contributes to soil organic matter (crop
residue should not be burnt in field but managed to contribute to organic matter), it also
reduces soil erosion, acts as permanent soil caller and termite attack on crops and it
contributes to positive realisation of CA (conservation agriculture).

PRESENTATION ON THE ECONOMIC SITUATION IN KABWE DISTRICT BY

MR CHISHIKO.

2
In his opening remarks, mr Chishiko gave an overview of the economic situation in Kabwe
District were he asserted that the establishment of the town was driven by the discovery of
lead and zinc mineral deposits which lead the opening of a mining industry. The mining
activities at that time, influenced the establishment of other industries such as the Lunsemfwa
Hydro Power stations to supply electricity to the town. Thereafter, the location of the district
favoured the establishment of Zambia Railways headquarters. The favourable economic
environment brought abouht National Milling, National Breweries, Zambia-China
Mulungushi Textiles, Zambia Lint Company LINTCO, diary produce board, and Kabwe
fabrics company KIFCO and so on.
The abandoned mining site became a site for people who vandalised the properties. Citizens
later started to collect the slug waste with no control to fill pot holes on roads and land fill in
their yards. This phenomenon exposed many people to lead poisoning affecting the mental
capacities mostly of young children. Since then one of the most alarming problems has been
towards preventing exposure to lead contaminated soils to citizens. A study by the
Blacksmith Institute of the United Kingdom, found Kabwe to be one of the ten (10) worst
polluted places in the world due to heavy metal (mostly zinc and lead) in tailings making
their way into the local water supply.
The population growth rate of Kabwe has been on the decline from below 7% between 1969
and 1980 to 0.5% between 1990 to date. Factors responsible for this downward trend include
general poor economic performance in the district which has resulted in people moving from
the town to other towns and cities and rural areas. Kabwe district’s situation was exacerbated
by the closure of the basic supporting industries which further slowed down the population
growth.
In response to the decline in population, Kabwe has developed a local economic development
(LED) strategy, whose vision is a green and prosperous town with equal economic and
business opportunities. The of the LED strategy main goals are; to create an enabling
environment for equal economic and business opportunities to transform the town into a
green, clean and healthy town for attraction of investment

TOURS

ENVIRONMENTAL FIELD TRIP TO KABWE NATIONAL FOREST

On Wednesday 26th of June, 2019 under the theme environmental degradation, we had a tour
to Kabwe National Forest with our tour guide being Mr Martin Mpundu (The Senior

3
Agricultural Officer for Kabwe District). In his tour presentation, Mr Mpundu asserted that
the Kabwe National Forest was approximately 10,000 hectares in size. There at the national
forest we noticed some native settlements and when asked to why this was the case, Mr
Mpundu clarified that these were illegal settlements commonly termed as squatters. Within
the forest, we also noticed some cement beckons on some portions of land which implied that
someone had property rights to that piece of land. A more intriguing observation was that
within the forest there were large portions of land cleared of their trees for agricultural
purposes. Traces of bush fires were also very prominent within the forest (even as we were
touring through the forest, we could see some active bush fires).worse still, despite it been a
reserved national forest, we did not see the presence of any wild animals.

When asked why this was the case in a forest that is meant to be a reserved forest, and if at all
the Zambian government had put any measures to alleviate these devastating activities going
on within the forest, Mr Mpundu asserted that about 80-85% of the forest cover in Kabwe
district was cleared (of which major clearing was done within the forest). There was no trace
of wild animals because due to the continuous tremendous activities going on within the
forest, wildlife fled away. With reference to the measures put in place to combat such
degrading practices within the forest, Mr Mpundu articulated that the Kabwe Forestry
Department is doing all it can to stop such acts but the government does not pump in
resources to this cause. Hence there are very few forest patrol personnel employed (few
personnel employed means only a small portion of the forest is monitored at a given time).

TOUR TO CHOWA MINE AND MPIMA BURROW PIT

Figure 1.1 shows mining activities at Chowa Magnese Mine.

Source, (GES 3433 FIELD PROJECT, 2019)

4
Within vicinity of the Kabwe National forest (North West of the forest) we arrived at the
Chowa magnese mine which is approximately 200m 2. In a preview of the activities taking
place within the mine, Mr Mpundu clarified that the mine is illegally established and run by
Chinese investors and the main activity going on is the mining of magnesium. The location of
the mine also threatens the river and dam as it is established on their catchment, thereby
threatening to cause massive pollution on mentioned water bodies. To extract the magnese,
large scale excavations are carried using explosives and bulldozers which subsequently has
led to the destruction of the crust in the area (the removal of the top most layers of the soil
means that the nutritional layers of the soils are removed which implies that vegetation can
no longer thrive in that area). Mr Mpundu also articulated that the mine mostly benefits the
government through the payment of tax rather than the local population.

After visiting the Chowa magnese mine, the tour group headed south west of Kafulamase
Road (the road separating the residential areas to left and the National Forest to the right)
were we arrived at the Mpima Burrow Pit located in the vicinity of the forest (south of the
forest). At the Burrow, large scale excavations of gravel is undertaken using bulldozers and
trucks. On the excavation site, no trace of vegetation is seen as like the Chowa mine, all the
nutritious top soils at the Burrow pit has been removed. This mining gravel is then used for
the building and maintenance of roads.

TOUR TO KABWE MUNICIPAL COUNCIL DUMP SITE.

Figure 1.2 shows the Kabwe Municipal Council Dump Site.

5
 Source, (GESS 3334 FIELD PROJECT, 2019).

A around 14:00 hours we arrived at the Kabwe Municipal Council Dump Site with Mr
Chishiko and Mrs Saboi Gilbert as our tour guides. Mr Chishiko said that the dump site is not
engineered meaning that the trash that is dumped there by both the government and the locals
is not sorted out as it comes. At the dumpsite evidence can be seen that people are not
following the rules when it comes to dumping trash (this is so because people dump trash
beyond the boundaries of the dump site). To control the trash coming into the dump site, Mr
Chishiko asserted that the Municipal Council is planning to put an engineered dump site
which will ensure that all trash is sorted and that no un-monitored duping takes place.

Mrs Gilbert mentioned to say that currently there are NGOs who are in charge of collecting
recyclable trash but are facing challenges because the trash at the dump site is not sorted.
When asked if the dump site has an effect on the local people having their houses closer to
the site, Mrs Gilbert highlighted that the locals are sometimes affected by air pollution in
situations when the trash is been burnt. In the rainy seasons due to sufficient restriction

6
measured, children playing around the area stand higher chance of being affected by diseases
such as cholera and other related diseases.

It is for this reason that the council is currently planning and budgeting to employ work
personnel to be looking after the place so they can monitor who comes in and who goes out.
The council is also discouraging the local people from digging dumping pits and burning
wastes as this causes more pollution and degradation. Instead, the council is encouraging the
locals to register with enterprises/branches that provide sorted bins for trash and wastes,
collects them and dumps them at designated places. The Zambia and Environmental project is
a partner to help achieve this “clean green Kabwe project” which is aimed at attracting
investment through the cleaning of towns.

After our visit at the Kabwe Municipal Council Dump Site, we made our way to Kabwe
Black Mountain Replica (located south along the Great North Road). We were not allowed to
go in due to the devastating effects of lead. The researcher’s immediate observation was that
the mountain was located a few hundred metres away from residential areas. The other
observation was that the area around the mountain was fenced with an electric fence. The
mountain also had grass and trees growing on it. When asked what preventive measures have
been put in place to protect the nearby residents from lead contamination coming from the
mountain, our tour guides Mr Chishiko and Mrs Gilbert asserted that in order to prevent the
effects of lead contamination, the government in partnership with the other stakeholders put
in place preventive measures such as; fixing an electric fence around the mountain, planting
trees and grass which act as a wind breaker preventing dust from the mountain from blowing
to the nearby residential areas.

7
 Soil Fertility And Crop Yield
80%

70%

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%
Soil Fertility Crop Yield

Legume Technology Field Non-Legume Technology Field

Perception and Adoption of Legume Technologies

90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0% Kabwe is one of the oldest town in
Perception of legume Adoption of legume
technologies technologies Zambia, it was formed as the district

Men Women in 1906 when it was formed as the

headquarters of the northern
Rhodesia rail lines. After independence Kabwe became a provincial headquarter of central
province. It is famously known as the broken hill town. Kabwe is one of the largest cities in
Zambia and it is located about 130km north of the nation's capital, Lusaka. It is one of six
towns situated around the Copperbelt, which was once Zambia's thriving industrial base.