Yokoniya village is situated on the Escarpment Complex in the Kalongo Ward along the Chipata-Jumbe road at 50 km from Chipata. It is part of a game management area which is infected with trypanosomiasis (tsetse fly), the main limitation to keeping cattle. Wildlife has been a substantial source of animal protein.
Yokoniya can be reached all year round by a dirt road, but no public transport is available. A grade 1 school was built at 3 km from Yokoniya in 1987 through a self-help project, and the people have recently started building a house for the teacher. They hope to expand the school in the coming years.
The nearest (mission) hospital is at Kalichero, some 18 km from Yokoniya. This is also the place where some agricultural products are sold along the road. Otherwise there are no markets and no shops in the area. The grinding mill is 8.5 km from Yokoniya.
The people who live in this area belong mainly to the Chewa tribe, although some intermarriages occur between for example the Kunda and Ngoni. Recently, other people who do not originally belong to the area through kinship relations, have also come to settle there. They are migrants or retired civil servants who have started farming. Through the “one Zambia, one Nation policy” people do not necessarily have to go back to their home area but can settle anywhere. The same applies nowadays for intermarriage between tribes. Even examples of Chewa married to Ngoni wives (patrilineal) were found. The Chewa and Kunda, both traditionally matrilineal tribes (descent through the female line, i.e., a man's heirs are his sister's children, not his own) and uxorilocal (the couple lives in the wife's group), have changed gradually towards a patrilineal system (descent through the male line, a man's heirs are his own children) and they can choose freely their place of residence. Fox (1976) states that kinship systems do change. Matrilineal, uxorilocal systems often arise in a situation which allowed mothers and daughters to form a viable unit, but in which they needed male help. Thus the women may be the agriculturists and the men the hunters, with the women living together in a series of scattered settlements. Patrilineal, virilocal systems develop often in herding or farming areas if these require a fairly large labour force of males, and if these males need to be carefully trained from birth. Then it is more likely that fathers will stay in the village and try to raise suitable male offspring. The resultant group will be as follows, with sisters being exported to other groups and wives brought in.
One of the reasons for the change of the kinship system can thus be the differentiating farming system. But is more likely that especially for those who migrated and have come back and invested in their land, house, etc. want more control on what used to be the property of the women. If this property becomes scarce and valuable then the men may find that some form of control may be necessary. Thus the brothers will be less inclined to leave home and will find some way of staying on the lineage lands. This can reach the point where patrilocal residence becomes the rule. Once there are patrilocal groups, the interests of these groups and the patrilineal inheritance pattern that follows from them are bound to take a prominent place in the minds of the men concerned (Fox, 1976).
Others attribute the weakening of the matrilineal system to the contact with a more “western lifestyle” of the labour migrants and the increasing individualism.
Whereas in former days a village was formed around the female members with their children, there is nowadays a genuine mixing of people in the villages. This sometimes has implications for village cooperation, although the tribe or lineage is not the only way to unify or divide people (see section 3.2).
The people in this area are living in small villages, which are separated from each other by cultiable land. The families who settled first in those villages have their fields nearby, others have their fields at some distance. This last group shifts from the villages to their fields during the rainy season. They have another house there and they take along all their pottery, mats, animals, etc. The guarding against wild animals (especially monkeys) and thus the protection of their crops is easier if they live close to their fields.
The people who came recently to set up a farm are diffused over the landscape, surrounded by their fields.
In principle, the chief allocates land, but in practice people settle wherever land is available, often without prior consultation with the chief.
When a village is established, all the land surrounding it is village communal land. If a person invests in communal land by way of any labour effort that person automatically acquires individual rights over that land. However, there are limitations on his right to dispose of it. He may not sell the land or otherwise dispose of it outside the community.
The people who have neither blood nor marital connections with the villagers are given plots of land by the village headman. Once a plot has been given it cannot be taken away from the recipient.
As heads of their families, men can decide what to produce on their family land; but in the matrilineal societies the land belongs to their wives and children. Ng'andwe (1976) mentions also that present attitudes tend to favour the inheritance of land by children rather than by brother and nephews, who are the rightful heirs under the traditional matrilineal kinship system. This means that inheritance and tenure of land are now following the patrilineal lines. However, this does not imply that the ownership of land forms a major constraint for women to start fish farming. There is still enough village communal land, which, if worked by a person or a group of persons, will be recognized as their land.
Originally these people were hunters and gatherers; now they lead a sedentary existence. Their main staple food is local maize. They shift from time to time to new fields although with decreasing frequency. Their way of cultivating is typically adjusted to a seasonal alternation of dry and wet periods, with preparation of the field undertaken at the end of the dry season and cultivation timed to catch the rains. The main tasks include selecting the site, cutting down forest growth, burning the accumulated debris, planting, weeding and harvesting. Fertilizers are not applied to the swidden field, except for the ashes worked into the soil by rains. Cultivation is labour intensive. Because of the trypanosomiasis there are no draught animals.
The households produce most of what they consume, however they are not self-sufficient. Most of the families in fact do not have enough food until the next harvest, but the Government usually gives food aid to the villages in this area. Some goods are bartered, e.g., sorghum or game meat for maize, but it is difficult to determine to which extent this is being practised (shooting game meat is illegal). Little produce is sold locally, only small quantities of local maize and groundnuts on exceptional occasions.
In a study on identification of locally available resources for compost or artificial fish feed in Yokoniya, it was found that the farmers who only grew subsistence crops, had planted an average of 5.5 crops (S.D. = 1.8). The mean number of crops grown by the farmers who grew subsistence as well as cash crops was 6.6 (S.D. = 2.5). These figures support the idea that the households first produce a number of crops for home consumption and in addition to this one cash crop is grown. However, no question was asked on the area cultivated for the different crops. No systematic difference in yield of the subsistence crops was found between the two groups of farmers. As shown in Appendix 1 the fact that a cash crop is added to a number of subsistence crops does not necessarily mean that people will have enough food for home consumption, thus no conclusions can be drawn about their nutritional well-being.
During the agricultural season 1986–87 only a few farmers grew hybrid maize, most of the farmers choosing cotton as a cash crop. For the season 1987–88 the number of farmers growing hybrid maize has even decreased and most of the people, even those who grew no cash crop last season, are now growing cotton. The reason why they grow cotton and no hybrid maize is that they do not “qualify” for a loan and thus cannot obtain the fertilizers and seed needed for hybrid maize. Moreover, the marketing of hybrid maize (it has to be sold to a marketing board) is not effective and payment is late (see Appendix 1). LINTCO, the parastal organization for cotton and soy beans has a good extension system, with an extension officer staying in the area and giving advice to the farmers on how to grow the crops and how to apply the chemicals. Cotton seed and chemicals can be obtained on a loan basis from the same extension officer. LINTCO pays the farmers immediately after collecting the harvest.
It is clear that the choice of cotton as cash crop is an easy one given this situation, and also because wild animals do not attack the crop. On the other hand, growing cotton, especially the weeding, is labour-intensive and competes with the labour necessary for weeding the subsistence crops. Much of the work for cash crops is done by men so that they can claim the money earned. The women mainly concentrate on food crops for home consumption, although they usually have a plot with groundnuts for themselves of which part might be sold. In a detailed study of how small-scale peasants make use of their time, labour, agricultural produce and cash income, carried out in Kefa village at some 25 km from Yokoniya, it was found that at that time (July 1977 – July 1978) men spend more time in agriculture than women (Skjønsberg, 1981). However, there is tendency among men to spend more time and effort than women on cash crops. The fact that men have taken more interest in farming does not necessarily mean that they take all the decisions. The decision on clearing of new land is almost always taken by men but the decisions on which crops to grow, when to plant and to harvest and how to cultivate and what to sell, seems to be a matter of discussion in the individual household (Skjønsberg, 1981).
Due et al. (1984) in their study on women's contribution of labour inputs to the farming system in 3 provinces in Zambia also found that the majority of the decisions as to the sales of farm products is made jointly by the husband and wife. In 12% of the cases they were made by the wife alone.
If the men work outside the village, they leave the agricultural work as well as decisions to their wives. This suggests more autonomy among the Zambian women than has been reported from other parts of Southern Africa.
Women also brew beer (especially between July and October) through which they can earn money. Beer is also used to pay for labour in October/November for planting. If somebody needs labour he sends an invitation to the headman of his village or other villages who then passes this message on to the other villagers. Both men and women are invited to participate. Beer and food are prepared and distributed afterwards. A working party can attract as many as 40 people.
Almost every household keeps chickens. An average of 14 birds was found per household (S.D. = 10). During the day the chickens walk freely in the villages and eat anything they can find. Most of the people give them some additional bran as well as kitchen waste. During the night they are kept in a chicken run. Only few families possess goats (average number 3.5). As mentioned earlier, no cattle can be kept because of the tsetse fly.
During the rainy season, people go fishing in the Lutembwe river. It is at 3 hours' walking distance, and so they usually stay overnight. In the dry season the river dries up, but this year (1987) even before it dried up there was no fish left because somebody had used pesticides for cotton to fish with, whereupon all the fish died.
Rukuzye area is located at 50 km from Chipata at 6.5 km off the Chipata-Lundazi road. There are two dams in the immediate area, the Rukuzye (about 10 ha) and Mapara (3 ha), both built in the fifties by the Department of Water Affairs. The Rukuzye dam is located on the border between the Chipangali and Kasenga Ward, and the Mapara dam falls within the Chipangali Ward. Rukuzye can be reached all year round; only the last 6.5 km are dirt road. There is, however, no public transport available. People first walk to the main Chipata-Lundazi road and then try to have a lift.
The Rukuzye Primary School goes up to grade 7 and totals about 300 students. The school building is in a deplorable state; all windows are broken and there are no chairs and tables anymore for the pupils. Just recently a new parent-teachers association was formed, because the people were not satisfied with the actual functioning of the school.
There is a Rural Health Centre in Rukuzye. The nearest hospital is in Chipata.
A common fact in Eastern Province is that there are no market places in the rural areas where products are offered for sale. Accordingly in Rukuzye there is no market place. There is nonetheless a small consumer shop of the primary society of the ECU, where a few products are sold, such as sugar, soap, tinned food, cigarettes. Members as well as non-members can buy in the shop.
Rukuzye falls under Chewa Chief Chanje III. Originally it is Chewa land, but many other people have come to settle there. The colonial powers decided to build irrigation dams in the Province which required a lot of labour. Few people lived in that area in the fifties and most of them were concentrated along the main road because of the wildlife which still inhabited the area. The British thus had to engage other people to do the work. When the dams were finished these people were encouraged to stay and occupy the interior area next to the dams and take up farming. This is why there are several Tumbuka villages in the area. The men who stayed formed separate villages with their extended family. There are also Tumbuka who have settled in Chewa villages. The Tumbuka come from Lundazi District and are a patrilineal tribe. In the patrilineal system the son is his father's heir. At the same time, the father-son relation is an unequal one, demanding of the latter due regard and submission.
It is often argued that the patrilineal tribes could adjust more readily to labour migration as the male migrants had a fixed, virilocal village (in which they had land rights) to return to. Also village cooperation was more possible and thus the specialized male tasks could be done collectively by a smaller number of males. This contrasts with matrilineal and uxorical arrangements like those of the Chewa in Yokoniya (at least in former times), where a man had less strong ties to either a village or to a group of male kin who might safeguard his interests during his absence.
During the colonial period another group of farmers, South Rhodesian and Malawian, were forced to settle in this newly opened land. They had to boost the agricultural production in the area. In those days the Government cleared their land, ploughed it and the necessary inputs were given. Upon Independence most of these farmers (who had by then become foreigners) left and a lot of land was idle again.
The Zambian Government decided that it should stay a settlement area and a committee was formed to distribute the land to the applicants. The Chipangali-Rukuzye Settlement Scheme covers 32 065 ha which are distributed amongst 209 farmers (average 153 ha). This area lies outside the village communal land and thus all these farmers live outside the villages. The total area which has been cropped in 1984 was far smaller: maize 1 888 ha, cotton 544 ha, sunflower 266 ha, groundnuts 221 ha. This represents 9% of the total available area or 14 ha per farmer (Ministry of Decentralization E.P., 1986).
In principle anybody can apply for a piece of land in the scheme. However, most of the settlers come from outside. Because of the “back to land policy” which encourages civil servants to go into farming when they retire, these people (and those in the parastatal category) receive a list of vacant places in the different settlement schemes for which they can apply. Although the Government does not give them any inputs and no longer ploughs the land for them, they have easy access to credit. So they are often privileged at the outset as well as with regard to the state resources they subsequently receive.
For the farmers who grow cash crops, it is a problem to find enough labour at the right time. There are possibilities of hiring draught oxen or tractor services but if manpower is needed, there is great competition between the settlers and the other farmers who also try to grow cash crops. It is only when villagers do not have any food at home that they ask for piecework. They usually go to the bigger farmers who can afford higher prices and provide transport to the farm. Because of the high labour demand, prices have increased considerably. Although this might be positive for the pieceworker, it does not compensate for the fact that these people, when working on somebody else's land, neglect their own which will result in a decrease in their own harvest.
Here, it is clear that a differentiation and class formation process has started, even though still at a low absolute level. Through labour migration people moved into the market economy system, through which many social relationships were transformed and involved cash. Later, cash crop farming contributed to this process as well. If the mutuality of exchanges of labour, traditionally through kin or village based groups or beer parties, still exists in Yokoniya, in Rukuzye this gradually gave way to the hiring of labour.
According to Cliffe (1977) in order to understand the emerging class divisions one should look at differentiation in terms of relationships of production and not living standards. In Rukuzye this is clear. The settlers and other farmers are producing for the market (mainly hybrid maize); some use mechanization. In fact they do not have much return for their efforts and are almost as poor as the rest. But they try to distance themselves from other villagers, and they have prior access to Government credit (even though it serves little purpose), and some funds are used for hiring the services of some of their neighbours.
There were also many people in the area who had received a loan for hybrid maize, but because of many funerals during the preparation of the field and planting season, they could not prepare the fields properly and plant in time. All their free time was devoted to the cultivation of hybrid maize because they feared that they would be unable to pay back their loan (because of group loans there is a very high pressure to pay back). Therefore the yield of food crops might decrease.
Preliminary results of an IFPRI (International Food Policy Research Institution) study in Eastern Province show that although the average monthly income for households which grow hybrid maize is about 2.5 times higher than for those households who do not, the absolute level of the income is still low ZK 186 versus ZK 72 (US$ 1 = ZK 8). In order to identify the antagonistic relationships that exists between villagers, even if confined to a low absolute level, it is thus necessary to look beyond the general underdevelopment and material impoverishment.
The statistics, presented in terms of stratification (commercial-emerging-subsistence farmers) are also an indication of the emerging class structure. The most important crop that can be readily grown in the plateau area is hybrid maize. This can only come from purchased hybrid seed and requires fertilizer to obtain adequate yields and preserve fertility. Access to credit, and thus some initial security, is the key to these inputs. Government-provided finance capital promotes in this way (although perhaps on a limited scale) the stratification between the “subsistence” and “emergent” farmers.
The land in Rukuzye area is divided into traditional and settlement land. For the traditional land, the village headmen usually decide about its distribution. The chief merely exercises powers of arbitration over disputed land.
According to a key informant, the headmen are reluctant nowadays to give land on a permanent basis, e.g. for orchards, the growing of sugar cane, etc. The reason is that by change of ownership, the capital improvements on the land have to be reimbursed. This would have had serious implications for the introduction of fish farming, since a fish pond is an investment for approximately 15–20 years. So far however, no problems in the allocation of land for fish ponds have been noticed. On the contrary, the headmen of the villages were often the promoters of fish farming and thus proposed a site within the village communal land. Land in the settlement area is allocated by the controlling committee. Local political leaders and the chief are represented in this committee which is chaired by the District Governor.
The role of the village headmen and the chiefs has been briefly discussed previously. Besides the role of distributing land, the village headman also has the responsibility of the settlement of social disputes and vigilance for the welfare of the village community. A village meeting is held whenever a local issue arises. The headman, with the assistance of his advisers, then interprets the popular consensus and announces a decision. Since the settlers do not live within the villages in Rukuzye area, they are not often involved in this kind of meeting.
Instead, to encourage grass-roots rural mobilization, Provincial and District Development Committees were introduced in 1966 and under the Registration and Development of Villages Act of 1971, the local level development committees for village and ward were established. Every village would have a village Productivity Committee (VPC) and every local government ward a Ward Development Committee (WDC). These committees were intended to provide a forum both for the expression of local demands and for the enforcement of central policies.
When the VPCs were created they usually reinforced the traditional social structure in that the village elders or the headman and his traditional advisers were chosen. It did not appear that VPCs existed in any of the three target areas at the moment; and if they did exist they were inactive.
The WDC, on the other hand, is active in Rukuzye. Although no study was made on its membership and functioning in Rukuzye, information obtained through discussions is in accordance with the results of the detailed study on WDCs in Kasama District, executed by Michael Bratton. Bratton (1979) has the general impression that at the ward level, unlike the village level, a break has occurred with the leadership patterns of the past. Traditional leaders have been replaced with more recently emerged social groups like salaried employees, businessmen and emergent farmers. Almost without exception, WDC members claimed UNIP (United Independence Party) membership. Moreover there seemed to be quite a high crossover between WDC leadership and leadership in other local institutions. Nearly half were members of a cooperative, a credit union, or a parent-teachers' organization. This significant crossover of leaders points to a recruitment pattern in which leadership is limited to a rather small local elite. One of the characteristics of the local leadership described by Bratton is the patriarchal nature of decision-making. Women have less influence than they have in the villages. Even at Ward Council meetings where attendance is often thrown open, fewer than 15% of those attending were women. Maybe this is why women, and older peasants too, still hold esteem for traditional leaders. These groups are prominent in Eastern Province's rural demographic profile (see Appendix 1).
Later, two intermediate organizations were introduced into this framework, sections and branches. A section should have at least 25 households; the size of a branch varies. A case was found where four sections were represented in one branch. In the case of these organizations also, it applies that traditional leaders have given way to new leadership groups.
Despite the general decline in their authority, the chiefs and headmen still have greater following at the village level than the political leaders.
In Yokoniya and Magwero area ALCOM's contacts go through the traditional leaders, who, if they consider it necessary, inform the political leaders about their fish farming projects.
As in Yokoniya, maize and groundnuts are the crops most widely spread in Rukuzye area. There is, however, one main difference in that most of the maize grown is hybrid maize (see 2.2). The ECU has a depot in Rukuzye where fertilizer and hybrid seed are sold. In 1988 the expected production is low, because of the non-availability of fertilizer. One farmer reported that in 1987 100 bags of basal and 100 bags of top dressing had been used while in 1988 it had only been possible to obtain 8 bags of each.
Next to the Rukuzye Dam there are a number of vegetable gardens. The vegetables are for home consumption or for sale within the community.
Next to the Mapara Dam people had started a seedbed for tobacco, but the plants were never transplanted. As mentioned in the beginning of this Appendix, people in this area sometimes attend as many as three or four funerals a week and therefore cannot spend much time in their fields. Tobacco is one of the most labour-intensive crops, and needs good management. When they were short of labour they chose to concentrate first on the maize, and the tobacco was abandoned.
Two persons have a permit from the Chipata District Council to fish with a gillnet in the dam. When they go fishing these fishermen sometimes employ other people whom they pay either with fish (for home consumption) or money. The catch is sold at the shore within the community, only a small quantity is taken to Chipata for sale.
Anybody can fish with a hook and line for his family, but there is a strong local control on people fishing with nets without a permit. In 1987 a fisherman was caught and the local party leader (UNIP) took him to the District Council. There are other reasons why people are discouraged from fishing in the dam:
the local people believe that the fishermen use certain tricks which they call lucky charms (“juju”, as if they are calling the fish to come to their nets). Other people go fishing in the dam but they do not catch a single fish;
the people in this region are not swimmers and are scared of water. Several people have apparently drowned in the dam. There are no rivers in the area where they can learn to swim or to fish; and this skill was originally taken from Malawi. Some local people bought the fishing permits and employed Malawians to do the job for them. Nowadays they do not employ Malawians because the community has many immigrants coming from Livingstone, Lake Kariba, Luangwa, Zambezi, who know how to fish with nets.
The IRDP started an irrigation project in 1976 at the foot of the Rukuzye Dam. The land of the irrigation scheme was owned by the Dambo cooperative. After the cooperative failed to use the land it was divided into lots of half a lima (1 lima = 2 500m2). The local people could use these to grow vegetables for domestic use.
The digging of the two school demonstration ponds under IRDP (500 m2 each) started early 1977. The tools, fencing wire and cement were given by IRDP; the digging was done by the pupils of the school. Progress was slow, for the following reasons:
the pupils did not like to dig. They found it hard work and they did not know what the ponds were meant for;
IRDP only contacted the teachers of the school. No local leaders were involved and the parents were not informed about the project. Therefore, they did not support the idea that their children were used as cheap labour.
There was a lot of pressure from IRDP to finish the ponds; in October 1979 they were finally completed. They were stocked with Tilapia. In July 1980 the watergate was blocked, and the ponds dried up. However, even before the waterlevel went down the people of the surrounding villages fished in the ponds so the school did not harvest any fish.
During one of the first group meetings the people present explained why, according to them, the IRDP project had failed:
it was not the felt need of the people but the need of IRDP and imposed by them;
it was supervised by the people from Chipata instead of the local people.
During informal contacts other reasons for the failure of the project emerged. The irrigation scheme was surrounded by a fence. Some people grew vegetables within the boundaries of the scheme, and others cultivated outside this land. The water was shared between both groups. The problem arose when the cooperative sold their produce for a fixed state price which was much lower than the price of the private farmers. When no solution was found some people decided to sabotage this irrigation scheme and to break the wheel of the valve so that the watergate could no longer be opened.
The vegetable gardens, now situated at the opposite side of the dam, belong to local people (see 2.5). Their produce is sold for an acceptable price since the chief intervened and told these farmers that they should not exploit their fellow villagers.
Magwero is situated in the plateau area at 22 km from Chipata and approximately 1 km from the Malawian border. It can be reached by a dirt road all year round. Like elsewhere in the rural areas in Zambia, there is no public transport. Because it is not situated at a through road there are hardly any vehicles going to this area. A few people have a bicycle, which is not very convenient as this is a hilly area.
There is a primary school, going up to grade 7, with about 300 pupils. The Dutch Reformed Church established its first mission in Zambia in Magwero. After some time they started a primary school for the blind and another for the deaf. When the missionaries left, the Zambian Government took over both schools.
There is a rural health centre in Magwero; the nearest hospitals are found in Chipata and a missionary hospital in Mwami, approximately 25 km away.
There are no market places and no shops in this area. If a person has something to sell he either brings it to the Chipata market or for small quantities he goes from door to door. When a fish pond is harvested, the fish is usually sold at the pond site or at the owner's house. Once the news is spread, the customers go to the vendor.
Since 1984, World Vision, a Non-Governmental Organization, works in Magwero area. They have community development projects including the construction of wells, a primary school and the provision of a grinding mill. For school drop-outs a carpentry class was set up as well as a sewing class for women. According to World Vision there is little response to these two activities. An activity which is highly valued by the people is the loan of fertilizer to the poorest farmers. Prior to the delivery of the fertilizer a visit is made to all the farmers applying for a loan. The money has to be reimbursed after the harvest.
The projects of World Vision are the first of this kind in the area. There have been no comparable projects in the past.
There are no governmental extension services.
Magwero area falls under the direct rule of Ngoni paramount chief Mpezeni. This does, however, not mean that all its inhabitants belong to the Ngoni (a patrilineal) tribe. As in other areas, the people can settle where they want and have therefore been mixing with other tribes.
The paramount chief is the direct descendent of the clan ancestor, according to the rule of primogeniture, and thus of superior descent. The common chiefs of a lineage are his subordinates. Where the actual relationship between members in a descent group can be demonstrated and is not simply assumed, the group is called a lineage. Clans are higher order units consisting of several lineages in which common descent is assumed but cannot necessarily be demonstrated.
The two villages, Mtemang'ombe and Jacobe, with which the programme is working in this area, are Chewa villages. Although the Chewa are known as a matrilineal tribe, these villagers follow the patrilineal rules regarding inheritance, and the men stay in their own village where they bring in their wives.
Most of the members of Mtemang'ombe village are Jehovah's Witnesses. This fact strengthens the bond which already existed between the villagers based on kinship relations. In a study on the Jehovah's Witnesses of Serenje District, Long (1968) states that the Jehovah's Witnesses differ significantly from the rest of the population in certain social characteristics. They frequently utilize links with fellow churchmen to gain access to such resources as expertise, farming equipment and labour. They hold a this-worldly oriented ethic which focuses on individual achievement and self-discipline, the rationale for this being that they are preparing themselves for the great day when Jehovah's Kingdom is established on earth.
All this is an indication that there is a close connection between being a Jehovah's Witness and having a positive attitude towards innovations like fish farming. In Mtemang'ombe village, people were determined to make fish farming a success. Consequently they finished the construction of the pond in a short time.
The majority of the already existing fish farmers in Chipata District also belong to this Church. Although they live quite a distance from each other, they claim to have received the idea of fish farming from others who are of similar religious affiliation.
There are no large-scale farmers in the area. The farmer with the highest production in 1987 produced 104 bags of 90 kg of hybrid maize. Several other farmers produced around 90 bags, but most of the farmers did not achieve this. Although there are no large-scale farmers there is a differentiation between the farmers who grow cash crops and the merely subsistence farmers. This first group needs a lot of labour for the cultivation of their crops, which the latter group is not very eager to give. They do not have the capital to buy the necessary inputs which is a constraint for the expansion of their own production. Unlike in Rukuzye where the poorest farmers were forced by hunger to do some piecework every now and then, here the farmers say that they do not want to hire out their labour. The reason they give is that those who have the means, and who can therefore gain by hiring additional labour, will become even richer than before. The richer farmers solve this problem by hiring cheap labour from Malawi.
The agricultural crops grown in this area, i.e., local maize, groundnuts and beans are mainly used for home consumption. The principle cash crop is hybrid maize although the production is not high (see above). A big problem is the supply of agricultural inputs. According to the farmers, their soils need a lot of fertilizer which can not be locally found. It has to be bought in Chipata, if available. Even then transport is a problem. The hybrid maize is sold locally to ECU, who also takes care of the transport.
It seems that in general land for cultivation is available. It is acquired through customary law. Two perennial streams are flowing in this area, the Kapako and Kabolere stream. The villagers have access to the adjacent land. Apparently land and water are relatively abundant and can be used by the villagers.
Husbandry is done on a small scale. Although the Ngoni were traditionally a cattle-herding tribe, nowadays they do not have large herds because of limited grazing areas and diseases. In most of the villages there are small numbers of pigs, goats and chickens.
Only very few farmers adopted the use of oxen to prepare their fields. There is no training centre in the surroundings. If the farmers train the oxen themselves they need four to six persons and it takes a long time; they do not consider it worthwhile.
The supply of fish in this region varies from village to village. Most of the dried fish comes from Malawi and sometimes from the Luangwa Valley. In some villages Malawian traders come several times a month. Fresh fish is scarce, there is little fish in the streams and occasionally some fish is sold from a private fish pond. Most people appreciate fish and would like to eat it more often. It seems that there are no traditional objections for any particular group in the society to eat Tilapia (this is in contrast to fish without scales).
In 1976 the Magwero Primary School was approached by IRDP and encouraged to include fish ponds in their production unit. They received the same assistance as the Rukuzye Primary School for the construction of the ponds (see 2.6). Three ponds were built but not always stocked with fish. The interest, by the teachers, in the school ponds revived again in 1986 when they received money from FAO for the celebration of World Food Day and as a result two additional ponds were built.
The ponds are managed by a worker who is employed by the school. Now and then the pupils assist him in the cleaning of the ponds and the boys of grades 6 and 7 helped with the construction of the new ponds. However, fish culture is not taught as a subject in class.
A small study was made of the role of the school ponds in the spreading of information on fish farming in the surrounding communities. The influence of the school ponds appeared to be minimal, for the following reasons:
the pupils do not transfer the information to their parents. They hardly ever talk about the fish ponds at home, except when they had assisted in the cleaning;
no link is made between the activities of the school and people's own activities. The people look upon the school ponds as a separate project specifically set up for the school for academic reasons;
the people of the surrounding community never “see the fish from the school ponds”. The fish is always shared amongst the teachers.
