On a working day in June 2018 under my previous organization, I visited Shibuyunji district to conduct my usual technical support to the extension staff as well as project beneficiaries. Having had a short meeting with the extension staff, we immediately proceeded into the field to conduct on-site visits. I felt enthusiastic that I had an opportunity to be in the field to share knowledge with the extension staff and farmers. 

On the way, I saw a woman in the field by the roadside spraying chemicals without protective clothing. From the onlook, she had been using chemicals for a number of years considering the way she smoothly handled the sprayer. 

A sudden urge rose inside me and I quickly asked the driver to stop the vehicle. I climbed out of the vehicle and immediately smelt the toxic chemical being sprayed by the woman. As I was watching her, a number of people passing were looking to see why we had stopped. On the other hand, the woman seemed only interested in getting the whole field sprayed and totally ignored my presence. As I smelt the strong stench of the chemical, I felt like I was the one spraying it!

Spraying chemicals without protective clothing is extremely dangerous as some of the chemicals can be inhaled, causing long-term effects on a human being. Her field being beside the main road might affect a number of passersby.

As I walked nearer, she suddenly took interest in my presence, and I think she could tell that I had something to say to her. She stopped spraying and waited for me to speak. 

I did not know what to say or where to begin. So, I just stood there with my mouth open, speechless. She then greeted me in the traditional way and I greeted her back. “My name is Edwin Abwino and I work with an NGO that fosters agroecological farming,” I said. 

She replied by saying, “my name is Mrs. Anna Banda”. And so began our conversation. She was a widow who had been growing maize for several years. She told me that she had five school-going children and that farming is her only source of income. I felt sympathy for her considering the responsibilities she bore alone. Immediately I spoke out what was on my mind. “Mrs. Anna Banda, may I know why you are spraying without protective clothing? Do you know that it is dangerous for you and it can harm your body,” I asked?

She responded that there was nothing she could do except to use the herbicides to control weeds in her field. I could see from her face and her expressions that she meant every word she spoke. She told me that she did not use protective clothing as it was expensive to buy and even to find in that rural part of the country. 

I spoke to her about agroecological practices which were sustainable for her soils and involved the non-use of synthetic chemicals. She looked at me and for a moment, unsure, perhaps skeptical. I further explained to her the benefits of agroecological farming and that the resources involved in such production systems are within her reach. Having shared that information with her, I then proceeded with my trip to see other farmers.  

In 2021 I joined Community Technology Development Trust (CTDT), a Zambian-owned NGO whose work aims to build resilient farming communities, it promotes the management and conservation of agrobiodiversity, addresses household food and nutrition security, climate change mainstreaming, response to seed policy environment and gender mainstreaming. 

During one of my field visits to Shibuyunji, I visited Mrs. Banda to check how she was doing on her farm. Upon arrival, I found her in the field this time with a hoe weeding and she had also engaged two men for labor. I saw that the maize crop seemed different from the previous one I had found three years ago. This one looked healthy and had very few weeds. Mrs. Banda stood up with a smile and a sense of appreciation. I was shocked to notice that she had recognized me after a long time. She walked towards me as I approached her. We hugged and she immediately narrated how she had tremendously improved in her production. 

She narrated that after we had met, CTDT had sponsored her for training in Sustainable Organic Agriculture which had changed her way of farming. She was now using environmentally friendly practices for her agriculture production. The moment I shared with her that I was working with CTDT, she got very excited. “I am very happy to learn that you are with the organization that has trained me in agroecological practices,” she said. I, later on, invited Mrs. Banda for training in agroforestry which she attended.  

Mrs. Banda now practices agroecological practices such as agroforestry, and crop rotation which has improved the soils on her farm. The costs of her inputs have also been reduced due to lowering the use of external inputs such as synthetic fertilizers, hybrid seeds, and herbicides. She said that the savings she was making in production were channeled to supporting her five school-going children. “Mr. Abwino, I now use open-pollinated varieties of maize accessed from the Community Seed Bank established by the community through the support from CTDT. Mr. Abwino, the seed allows me to recycle every season and I have reduced the quantity of chemicals I use on my farm.”

In the absence of synthetic chemicals, Mrs. Banda now uses animal manure, compost, green manures, well-planned crop rotation, conservation tillage to gradually reduce weeds in her field, and open-pollinated seed varieties that enable her to recycle seeds each and every season. Her yields have tremendously increased due to improved soil fertility and the use of other Good Agriculture Practices (GAP). Mrs. Banda no longer needs to use herbicides to control her weeds. Conservation tillage has gradually reduced the amount of weed seeds sitting in the soils of her field. 

In addition, Mrs. Banda has become a model farmer for her community. She spearheads a Farmer Field School on Participatory Plant Breeding (PPB) where 25 farmers periodically gather to learn and share research knowledge. Field days have been conducted in her field as a window of disseminating agroecological practices to larger masses in the community. Her fellow farmers in Shibuyunji district can no longer resist the attractiveness in benefits of agroecological practices being pioneered by Mrs. Banda in the area. 

When I think back to that day in June 2018, I am somehow glad that I found her spraying her crops and that my sudden urge to stop, even though I was speechless, led to this great woman finding a healthy and natural way to farm and then to become a community leader!

This story was written during the Writeshop ''Learn to write your own Agroecology Stories of Change'' held in June 2021 and organized by Barefoot Guide Connection, Agroecology Knowledge Hub and Family Farming Knowledge Platform.