The LIAP-Project still impacting lives in Luangwa District

Twenty-seven-year-old Nathan is amongst the 1,500 farmers that ChildFund has supported through the ChildFund New Zealand -funded, Luangwa Integrated Agriculture Project (LIAP). Having started off as a subsistence young farmer now owns a big banana plantation.

“After dropping out of school, I was given a small piece of land where I started growing maize for my own consumption. But as you know Luangwa is a drought-prone area, my yields were so low, sometimes, I would wake up and find all my crops destroyed by wild elephants, Nathan explained

He added that he always had a passion to diversify and begin to grow bananas, sugar cane and other crops that easily bring in money. However, the rainfall patterns and the human/animal conflict made this quite difficult for him.

His dream came true when ChildFund embarked on the LIAP Project with activities that focussed on ensuring participants had access to irrigation systems, dams were put up and Nathan and his family received fruit trees as seed.

“I was one of the young farmers that were given fruit trees and trained by ChildFund on how to grow drought-resistant fruits, we were also given tips on how to market our products, I’m very happy that today, I grow bananas on a large scale. Business people drive to my farm to buy the fruit for sale.

Nathan also grows other fruits like papaya on a smaller scale, he has access to water from the dam that was constructed by ChildFund through the LIAP Project.

Most families in Luangwa are now food secure through the project, they own goats and chickens that were distributed during the project cycle that has now come to an end.

ChildFund New Zealand has been supporting Luangwa through a ten-year strategy that ends in 2026. Nathan and other farmers have been part of this plan

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