Planet
Access to irrigation enables farmers to farm year-round, enabling them to adapt to the impacts of climate change on traditional rainfall patterns.
| Company | Chiansi Farming Company Limited and Chiansi Irrigation Infrastructure Company Limited |
| Sector | Agri-infrastructure |
| Country | Zambia |
| PIDG Commitment |
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| Dates of PIDG involvement |
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The Government of Zambia are committed to maximising the potential of the country’s agricultural sector to make a sustainable contribution to Zambia’s GDP, food security and household incomes; identifying pro-poor agriculture-led development as a key part of its development planning. The country benefits from high levels of rainfall and fertile soils but yields can be vulnerable to seasonal rainfall fluctuations. Zambia’s commercial farmers use irrigation to extend growing seasons, diversify crops and increase yields. Smallholder farmers, however, lack the scale and finance to harness the potential of irrigation.
In 2006, PIDG, through InfraCo, piloted a new approach to deploying irrigation infrastructure through the Chanyanya Irrigation project (Chanyanya) in Zambia’s Kafue District. Chanyanya pooled smallholders’ land and established a smallholder cooperativ
The Chiansi Irrigation project (Chiansi) draws on learning from Chanyanya, and over a decade of experience of working with communities in Zambia’s Kafue district. Bordering Zambia’s Kafue River, around 45km from the country’s capital, Lusaka, Chiansi has substantially scaled up Chanyanya’s existing bulk water irrigation for the nearby communities of Chikupi and Demu North and South. The project provides the infrastructure needed to irrigate market gardens for up to 960 local smallholders. In addition, InfraCo worked with SUDECO to establish a new 1,336ha commercial farm.
Access to irrigation enables farmers to farm year-round, enabling them to adapt to the impacts of climate change on traditional rainfall patterns.
Market Garden Committees have been established to enable agricultural knowledge and technical know-how to be shared across the local community, to improve local food security and enhance household incomes through the year-round sale of fresh produce.
Working together with SUDECO, a South African private investor, the project now operates a 1,336ha commercial farm. The farm creates local jobs, delivers training and demonstrates replicable best practice in the operation and maintenance of a comprehensive irrigation network.
Chiansi has been funded by the Dutch ORIO Infrastructure Fund and PIDG technical assistance grants. Ownership of the bulk water infrastructure will revert to the Government of Zambia upon completion, enabling the benefits of irrigation to be shared across the wider region.
The project leveraged grant funding and mobilised investment from the private sector. Collaborative initiatives such as Chiansi have the potential to stimulate economic development and contribute to the alleviation of poverty across sub-Saharan Africa.
