A history of the Zambia national farmers’ union (ZNFU) from 1905-2000.
Date
2022
Authors
Changwe, Levison
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Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
The University of Zambia
Abstract
This study is a historical investigation of the Zambia National Farmers’ Union (ZNFU) from 1905 to 2000. ZNFU is one of the oldest associations in Zambia traced back to Fort Jameson town (present day Chipata). It started as a Tobacco Farmers’ Association in 1905. In1938, it changed to Northern Rhodesia Farmers’ Union (NRFU) until 1964 when Zambia became independent. After the attainment of independence in 1964, it was called Commercial Farmers’ Bureau (CFB) and finally changed to ZNFU in 1992. This research was prompted by the fact that the available literature does not fully capture the history of the farmers’ union that represents the interest of the farming community. Although there is a lot of scholarly work on the history of agriculture in Zambia, very little has been documented on how the farming community was represented in the country. Three main areas were investigated which included the origin and development, changing roles, challenges and achievements of the farmers’ union. This study utilised the qualitative method of data collection. Both primary and secondary data were collected from the University of Zambia Main Library, the National Archives of Zambia, Zambia Agricultural Research Institute (ZARI) formally Mount Makulu Research Station, Central Statistics Office and ZNFU Offices. Oral interviews were also conducted with farmers and union officials. In analysing the data, historical evidence was examined by comparing what each source stated. The study argued that the development of the farmers’ union was provided by the tobacco settler farmers who followed the construction of the railway line which reached the Victoria Falls in 1902, Broken Hill in 1906 and Congo in 1910. This was due to the high demand for food stuff in the mines. The study further examined the challenges of the farmers’ union which included the lack of markets especially for African farmers, an increase in electricity tariffs, levy contributions to the union and transport problems. The study further argued that the failure of the union to provide security, poor input distribution to members, failure to facilitate calibrated weight scales to members, provide enough information on climate change, as well as the lack of efficiency and incompetent staff became a major challenge for the union to operate effectively. The study concluded that despite the challenges faced by the farmers’ union, a number of successes were also scored. These included the introduction of the Agricultural Land Bank (ALB), establishment of collection points and the Farmers’ Consolidation Scheme (FCS) for both commercial and small scale farmers respectively. Furthermore, the study discussed how the union facilitated the introduction of the Drought Relief Scheme which assisted members who were affected by drought, fire or floods. In the field of scientific development, the farmers’ union worked in collaboration with ZARI in order to improve on crop, livestock and technology of production.
Description
Thesis
Keywords
Zambia National Farmers’ Union.