Per-Anders Pettersson/Exclusive by Getty Images
DCL
I met a man from Zambia today at a discussion panel about the costs and opportunities of climate change for developing nations. The panel talked, among other things, about the need for long-term investment in renewable energies, and cited the example of Brazil as a leading biofuel producer because of conscious decisions it made 20 years ago to move in the direction of energy independence.
At the end of the panel, the Zambian man got up and asked what that means for developing countries that don't have the capital to make such investments.
The panelists' answers varied, the vaguest but most promising of which is that international borders are porous to ideas and innovation. People and equipment may not travel so easily, but invention and creative solutions can, and one panelist emphasized that developing countries should not reject "south-south technology transfer."
One idea worth spreading
I was reminded of a story I read earlier this week about Elleman Mumba, a growing hero in Zambia who, through conservation farming, has boosted his agricultural yield and cut costs—while reducing his labor load and preserving more of the environment than conventional farming.
He adopted the practices ten years ago touted by Zambia's Conservation Farming Unit—meaning he disturbs only one-tenth of the land, which reduces soil erosion and runoff, and the soil in turn retains more nutrients.
In conservation farming, Mumba said, "you conserve water, so even when the rains are light, you are able to get something." He finished his first season with 68 bags of maize—enough to feed his family and buy four cattle. He's had to work less every season since, plus his costs are lower, too.
Sometimes simpler is better
The BBC story on Mumba sums up the principles applied in all conservation farming—which is now used on 160,000 farms in Zambia:
- disturb the soil as little as possible
- use natural processes as well as fertiliser to replenish its nutrients
- leave crop residue in situ rather than burning it off
- rotate crops
People in Zambia who heard about what Mumba was doing at first didn't believe it would work—and when he started seeing success, many thought it was witchcraft.
Now they're coming to him for advice.
Hopefully neighboring countries will start to do the same, and heed the advice to allow the transfer of technology and ideas across borders.
