FARMER FRIEND
GET A FARMER FRIEND FROM ZAMBIA
The farmer friend is a Zambian small farmer that a Finnish supporter helps on their way to self sufficiency.
By supporting a farmer friend, you help their whole family and village because we channel the money to livelihood investments and to training that relates to farming. The farmers are taught to farm without expensive fertiliser, to market their products and to unite in securing proper pricing for their products. Training in beekeeping, brings in extra income during a bad season.
A farmer friend is your link to another continent and to a different way of life.You can witness the development of an individual and of a village towards self sufficiency, you can see them succeed and get to know their everyday challenges. A farmer friend brings new perspective to you and the life of your family.
You are not bound to your farmer friend for the rest of your life. You only have to support your farmer friend till the end of 2012. You can make a difference already by donating 10 euro a month.
THE BENEFITS OF A FARMER FRIENDSHIP FOR THE SUPPORTER
THE BENEFITS OF A FARMER FRIENDSHIP FOR THE RECIPIENT
HOW MUCH DOES THIS COST?
HOW DO I KNOW THAT MY MONEY HAS BEEN RECEIVED?
THE EVERYDAY LIFE OF A ZAMBIAN FARMER
BACKGROUND ORGANISATIONS
TUO
GLM
The Green Village -project
WE ALREADY HAVE A FARMER FRIEND
CONTACT
THE BENEFITS OF A FARMER FRIENDSHIP FOR THE SUPPORTER
Individual
In the beginning of your friendship we send you an information package on the everyday life of a small farmer in Zambia, information on the state of the country, the village in question and of course your farmer friend. Later, we send you updates on the progress made in the village, the challenges faced and the activities of the Green Village project.
To minimise the expenses we send the information package and updates by email. Because of this it is important that you remember to add your email address to the sign up form. If you would rather receive the material by mail do not add your email to the form.
If you want, you have a chance to become pen pals with your farmer friend.
The letters are sent by mail to Lusaka, the capital of Zambia. The staff our cooperation organisation, delivers them to villages from there. Because the villages are not visited often (Once every two months), the pen pals response to the letter can take months to arrive.
By agreement, a trip to the village can be arranged for you but you are responsible for the expenses. It is recommended to start to plan the trip early.
Your support is used for the benefit of the whole village
The support given to your farmer friend is used for the benefit of the entire community. You are not supporting one individual farmer but many small farmers with their families, through the training and investments, paid for by your donation to the farmer clubs. Yet you have a chance to get to know the everyday life of a small farmer and their family through your farmer friend and to see the affect your support has had on the community.
If the support was directed to individual farmers, this might cause jealousy in the village and dampen the community spirit. In addition our cooperation organisation GLM has proved that the result of the training directed towards the communities have a more sustainable affect of the life of the individuals as well.
Companies and organisations
When a company or organisation gets a farmer friend, the benefits are the same as those of an individual supporter.
As a company or an organisation, you get some extra benefits, these are:
•Your name on the webpage of the campaign
•an advertisement (the size of one fourth(1/4) of a page) in the magazine of TUO.
The magazine is published five times a year and distribution is around 8500 issues.
•You can get a Farmer friend banner for a website.
•A chance to get a presentation (to the event of your choice) on the Green Village project and the life of a small farmer from the other side of the world.
If the support donation of a company or organisation is higher than normal, than additional benefits can be negotiated on.
THE BENEFITS OF A FARMER FRIENDSHIP FOR THE RECIPIENT
The money raised by the farmer friendship is directed to the following uses:
Teaching Agroforestry
Beekeeping courses
· The purchase of beehives
Empowering communities to affect their own development
The exchanging of experience between farmers
These uses of the donation are based on the needs of the locals and form the cornerstone of our project.
Due to the worry caused by the high prices of fertiliser and the insufficiency of the crop caused by that, agroforestry training is arranged so that the need for fertiliser is avoided. In addition to this, through the experience exchange of farmers, it is made sure that the knowledge of the benefits of agroforestry spreads from village to village. At the same time the locals become able to take responsibility of their own development.
HOW MUCH DOES THIS COST?
INDIVIDUAL
You have a choice of three different payment methods
•10 euro/a month
Till the end of 2012
•100 euro/a year
Till the end of 2012 (so altogether 200 euro)
•You can also make additional donations per month, year or you can make a single lump donation.
So you pay more than in choice 1 or 2.
Sign up for a farmer friend here (Individual)
After sign up, we will send you the information package and the bill with the payment method of your choosing.
COMMUNITY
As a community or an organisation, you can choose from two different payment methods.
•50 euro/a month
Until the end of 2012. Though this can be continued indefinitely.
•400 euro/a year
Till the end of 2012 (so altogether 800 euro)
•A single lump donation of at least 450 euro.
So you pay more than in choice 1 or 2.
Sign up for a farmer friend here (community/organisation)
After sign up, we will send you the information package and the bill with the payment method of your choosing.
HOW DO I KNOW THAT MY MONEY HAS BEEN RECEIVED?
The money collected through the farmer friendship is directed to Zambia via the Green Village project. The money is collected by TUO - the student organisation of the Turku University of Applied Sciences, that delivers it to the other party of the project the Zambian Green Living Movement (GLM), as agreed. GLM organises the agreed upon training and gets the required material.
The Green Villages project does regular monitoring trips to the villages where i.a the project members check that the money has been spent as agreed. Most of the result can be clearly seen: There are bees buzzing in the beehives, the farmers clubs have agreed upon a common price for selling crop and more areas are cultivated through agroforestry. In addition there are indicators used in the training that show the amount of small farmers participating and how they apply what they have learnt in practice.
You can ask for training reports here.
The minimum of 90% of the funds raised through the friendships are directed towards the villages and the maximum of 10% is spent on administration and information expenses of the farmer friend activity.
THE EVERYDAY LIFE OF A ZAMBIAN FARMER
Zambian farmers face the same challenges in their everyday life that Finnish farmers do. When to sow, what if the season is dryer than normally, how to deal pesticides, how to store the ready crop and who to sell it to? A Zambian small farmer mainly farms for their own need but many times the only possibility to make money is to sell the products to others. A good crop provides a diverse diet for a family.
Unlike in Finland, farming is very small in Zambia. Over 80% of Zambians living in the countryside make their living through farming. The word industrial farming cannot be used because few of them have access to tractors or sowing machines. Many Zambians farm corn, sweet potato and peanuts. Many species must be farmed because their well-being is tied to the crop.
After becoming independent in 1964, farming was strongly supported by the government in Zambia. The government helped with getting seeds and fertilisers and bought the crop directly from the farmer. The farmers did not need to think of marketing or logistical problems. The government favoured the farming of corn which lead to one-sided farming. In the 1990s the single party state was deposed by vote, which lead to the abolishment of the unproductive support system. The small farmers were left to fend for themselves. It is now almost impossible for them to get fertiliser or to sell their crop. They have no experience in these matters because the government used to deal with these matters for them.
The sowing season is between November and April. The tools the farmers have are a plow pulled by livestock or a hoe. Chemical fertiliser are very expensive and poor farmers cannot afford them. The soil is well suited for farming but easily suffers from erosion. The nutrients are used up easily when the wrong farming methods are used. Bad crops drive the farmers to clear up new fields which quickly leads to deforestation. The slash and burn method is still widely used.
Agroforestry helps a farmer to become self-sufficient. The trees growing on the fields offer protection from the sun, bind nutrients and water to the soil and can add some variation to the daily diet. The crop that the farmers get from the fruit trees adds to the incomes of the families because there is often fruit left over to sell. Many different species of trees can be planted on the fields. Some of these species bind nutrients and some give ingredients for pesticides or fertilisers.
Agroforestry is an organic way to farm. It gives the farmers a chance to protect their environment and to be self reliant. After planting the trees, it takes about three years before the field starts to provide good crops. This is a long time for many farmers but it is worth the wait. Freedom from chemical fertilisers and the lessening of a need to water the fields, makes the life of many farmer families noticeably easier. After positive experiences, it is easy to market agroforestry to new farmers. Hopefully someday, all Zambian small farmers can be self-sufficient and can deal with the challenges set by their circumstances. This is were you can join in and help.
BACKGROUND ORGANISATIONS
TUO
GLM
The Green Village -project
WE ALREADY HAVE A FARMER FRIEND
CONTACT
If you want to have more information about the Green Village project, please contact
Project Coordinator Noora Mantere
E-mail: Noora Mantere [a]turkuamk.fi
Tel.: +358 44 9072 069
Project Secretary Laura Ronkainen
E-mail: Laura.Ronkainen [a]turkuamk.fi
Tel.: +358 45 6706 652
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