Grant Contract Signing Ceremony for “the Project for the Improvement of Sustainable Agriculture-Management of Soil Fertility in Kalulusi District, Copperbelt Province”, under Grant Assistance for Grassroots Human Security Projects
2025/1/13
On 9th January 2025 Ambassador Takeuchi and Prof. Hoyce Jacob Lymo-Mbowe, Executive Director of the Mindolo Ecumenical Foundation (MEF), signed a grant contract for “the Project for the Improvement of Sustainable Agriculture-Management of Soil Fertility in Kalulusi District, Copperbelt Province,” with a total grant of up to 71,874 US dollars under the Japan’s Grant Assistance for Grassroots Human Security Projects (GGP).
The recipient, MEF, is an educational institution in Kitwe that has been providing various vocational training, higher education and theological studies since 1959. Since 2000s, it has been supporting the Chilobwe farming community, located next to its training farm in Kalulusi District. The project will construct a compost centre and Azolla ponds, and drill a borehole to supply water to the compost centre. The aim is to provide training to the people in Chilobwe, to equip them with sustainable agricultural methods for their survival. The organic method of fertilising the soil using compost and azolla will help more than 100 households in the community to maintain the fertility of the land and to increase their harvest in the long term.
(*Azolla is a type of aquatic fern that can be used as an organic fertiliser as well as livestock feed.)
On behalf of Honourable Minister of Agriculture Mtolo Phiri, Dr. Chizumba Shepande, Director of Agriculture from the Ministry of Agriculture, emphasised the importance of sustainable farming in the country in the context of climate change and expressed gratitude for the timely support of the Government of Japan in this area.
Ambassador Takeuchi mentioned that the severe drought experienced in the past 1 year in Zambia made the Embassy realise the urgent and significant importance of supporting the agriculture sector against climate change. He also mentioned with satisfaction that the Government of Japan could demonstrate the GGP’s flexibility and speediness in reacting to the current crisis caused by the drought and managed to support this very first agricultural project under GGP in the past 10 years, and pledged his further contribution to the development and prosperity of Zambia.
The Government of Japan wishes this project will contribute to the wellness of the Chilobwe community for generations to come.
To read the speech by Ambassador Takeuchi, please click here.