1.

M u l t i p l e L i v e l i h o o d s a n d W a s t e w a t e r I r r i g a t i o n F a r m i n g i n P e r i E v a r i s t o M w a b a K a p u n g w e U n i v e r s i t y o f Z a m b i a , Z a m b i a

The urban poor use heavy metal contaminated wastewater in production of crops to sustain their livelihood in Zambia. Despite the inherent dangers of food crop contaminations and potential health consumption of heavy metal contaminated food crops, a lot of people engaged in wastewater irrigation farming as a source of livelihood in peri urban areas in Zambia. The study focused taminated industrial wastewater and domestic sewage in order to sustain their livelihoods in peri urban areas of Mufulira and Kafue towns in Zambia. To study investigated the livelihoods of people engaged in crop production using heavy metal urban areas of Mufulira in the Copperbelt Province and Kafue in Lusaka Province in Zambia. The snowball principle was used to select A total of 31 crop cultivators were sampled at New Farm study site in Mufulira from 26th April, 2007 to 14th November, 2007 whilst a total of 29 crop cultivators were sampled at Chilumba Gardens study site in Kafue from 17th September, 2013 to 12th December, 2013. The interview schedules were administered to selected crop cultivators. multiple livelihood activities, wastewater irrigation farming, poverty, land tenure, peri

Farming in Peri Urban Areas in Zambia:

Evaristo Mwaba Kapungwe

Abstract-The urban poor use heavy metal contaminated wastewater in production of crops to sustain their livelihood in Zambia. Despite the inherent dangers of food crop contaminations and potential health risks associated with consumption of heavy metal contaminated food crops, a lot of people engaged in wastewater irrigation farming as a source of livelihood in peri urban areas in Zambia. The study focused on the urban poor engaged in cultivation of crops using heavy metal contaminated industrial wastewater and domestic sewage in order to sustain their livelihoods in peri urban areas of Mufulira and Kafue towns in Zambia. To study investigated the livelihoods of people engaged in crop production using heavy metal contaminated wastewater. Two study field sites were selected in the peri-urban areas of Mufulira in the Copperbelt Province and Kafue in Lusaka Province in Zambia.

The snowball principle was used to select informal crop cultivators at two study sites. A total of 31 crop cultivators were sampled at New Farm study site in Mufulira from 26th April, 2007 to 14th November, 2007 whilst a total of 29 crop cultivators were sampled at Chilumba Gardens study site in Kafue from 17th September, 2013 to 12th December, 2013. The interview schedules were administered to selected crop cultivators.The results indicated that the majority of informal crop cultivators had attained primary education and engaged in multiple livelihood activities for self sustenance. The majority of crop cultivators were poor by Zambian Government standards. There were multiple sources of labour while there were multiple markets for selling of crops. The benefits of crop production include improved food security at the households and income generation which contribute to accumulation of capital used to invest into other economic activities apart from crop production. Consumption of heavy metal contaminated food crops and informal access to the land cultivated were the major challenges. In conclusion the informal crop cultivators engaged in multiple livelihood activities to sustain household needs and accumulate capital. The mode of production of crops was low cost under informal non capitalist relations of production systems while the mode of distribution was through the formally organised economy by sales at the market. The opportunities of crop production included income generation and improved food security at household of crop cultivators. The major challenges were consumption of heavy metal contaminated food crops, poverty and informal access to the land cultivated. The results from this study were similar to findings from other studies in developing countries. The research findings would further the development of programmes that would improve livelihoods of urban poor. It is recommended relevant authorities can promote alternative

tudies in wastewater irrigation farming conducted in developing countries indicated that a lot of people were engaged in production and selling of crops from waste water irrigation farming in peri-urban areas in towns (Faruqui, 2002). The main drivers of the wastewater use in crop farming included lack of alternative cheaper or safer water sources; the increased urban water demand; high demand for food in urban areas; poverty and rural-urban migration (Raschid-Sally and Jayakody, 2008). According to Buechler et al., (2002) wastewater use for livelihood activities in urban and peri-urban areas is a reality that planners and policy makers must face.

The majority of people in sub-Saharan African countries are poor and live below the poverty datum line (Potts, 2002). There has been drastic fall in real income for the urban people and subsequent decline in the standard of living in the last 20 years starting from the 1960's (Potts, 2002). There was the gap between the incomes and survival needs of urban household. In the absence of socio-welfare, the urban dwellers had to find ways of adapting to the urban 'wages puzzle' (Potts, 2002) which include increase in the urban agriculture which included informal wastewater use in crop farming (Drechsel et al., 2011).

The rate of poverty is relatively high in urban areas in Zambia (GRZ, 1998;GRZ, 2004). In order to sustain their standard of living, poor people in urban areas engage in informal activities such as peri-urban agriculture (Hampwaye et al., 2007Hampwaye, 2013) including wastewater irrigation farming (Kapungwe, 2011). The urban poor use heavy metal contaminated wastewater in production of crops to sustain their livelihood in Zambia (Simukanga et al., 2002;Marshall et al., 2004;Kapungwe, 2011). Despite the inherent dangers of food crop contaminations and potential health risks associated with consumption of heavy metal contaminated food crops, a lot of people were engaged in wastewater irrigation farming as source of livelihood at the two study sites (Kapungwe, 2011;Kapungwe, 2013a). The benefits of using wastewater in crop irrigation in Zambia included increased in crop yield, income generation and improved food security at the household (Mtonga, 2001 Holden andKapungwe, 2007). The study focused on the urban poor engaged in cultivation of crops using heavy metal contaminated industrial wastewater and domestic sewage in order to sustain their livelihoods in peri urban areas of Mufulira and Kafue towns in Zambia. To study investigated the livelihoods of people engaged in crop production using heavy metal contaminated wastewater. It was hypothesised that there was no significant relationship between the cropping systems and livelihoods of crop cultivators.

In this study the livelihood model developed by Carney (1998 a, b) were used to analyse the livelihoods of the urban poor engaged into crop production using the heavy metal contaminated wastewater in peri-urban areas of Mufulira and Kafue towns in Zambia. According to Carney (1998 a, b), the livelihood comprises the capabilities, assets and activities done to earn a living. The livelihood activities can be either on farm or off-farm activities. Capacities refer to the ability of the community to take part in decision making, the acquired indigenous technical knowledge that makes the community to have the resilient to respond to environmental stress and socio-economic changes. The five livelihood assets (Carney, 2002;Carney, 1998a;b) are: i. Natural resources include the natural resources such as water, land and air. ii. Human resources include skills, knowledge and health status of the people. iii. Financial resources include income, saving and credit. iv. Physical resources include the tools and equipment. v. Social resources include the socio-organisation such as institutions, legislations and policy People continue to build on assets endowments so that they can enjoy sustainable livelihoods (Little and Edward, 2003). For the urban poor property rights to land, water together with labour, form the most common endowments used to produce for home consumption as well as for cash that allow the family or individual to pay for other needs such as education, health and shelter (FAO, 2002). It is argued that property rights to land and water are the most powerful resources available to people to increase and extend their collection of assets beyond land and labour to full portfolio necessary for sustainable livelihoods (FAO, 2002).

It is argued that improving livelihoods can help people to become less vulnerable to poverty (Bradbear, 2004). This is achieved by helping the people to gain access to a range of assets and supporting their capacity to build these assets into successful livelihood activities (Bradbear, 2004). Furthermore, people who have limited cash or financial savings often have the capacity to ameliorate against the socio-economic stress and minimise disposal of household assets significantly by being members of organisations that provide assistance when they experience financial problems (Bradbear, 2004;Saasa and Carlson, 2002). Therefore, assessment of trends in the assets, capabilities and activities over time can indicate if livelihoods are deteriorating or improving (Little and Edwards, 2003) among the urban poor.

Two study field sites were selected in the periurban areas of Mufulira in the Copperbelt Province and Kafue in Lusaka Province in Zambia (Figure 1). Mufulira is located between latitudes 12o 30' South and 12o 40' South and between longitudes 28o 10' East and 28o 20' East. Kafue is located between latitudes 15o 45' South and 15o 50' South and extends from longitude 28o 05' East to 28o 15' East. The New Farm study site in Mufulira is located along the Kansuswa River adjacent to Kantanshi Stabilization Ponds in the triangle shaped area between the Kansuswa River and tailing dams (Figure 2). The Chilumba Gardens study site in Kafue is located along Kasenje and Shikoswe Rivers in the Kafue Estate Industrial area between Zambia and Soloboni Compounds behind Nitrogen Chemicals of Zambia (Figure 3). IV. Socio-Economic Characteristics of the two Study Sites

The crop cultivators at the study sites engaged in crop production as an informal activity because they were not officially recognised by the relevant authorities (Kapungwe et al., 2007). The crop cultivators were both full time and part time. The dominant crop grown was sugarcane interspersed with vegetables and maize while there were seven distinct cropping systems at the study sites (Kapungwe, 2011). There was heavy metal contamination of wastewater, soil and crops at the study sites (Kapungwe, 2013a). Previous preliminary findings indicated that the informal crop cultivators engaged in multiple livelihood activities to sustain their living at the two study sites (Holden and Kapungwe, 2007;Kapungwe, 2011). The Kansuswa Peasant Farmers Association at New Farm in Mufulira and the Chilumba Peasant Farmers Association at Chilumba Gardens in Kafue allocated times of watering by different crop cultivators and controlled the selling of crops (Holden and Kapungwe, 2007;Kapungwe et al., 2007). The summary of socio-economic characteristics of the study sites as shown in Table 1.

The snowball principle was used to select informal crop cultivators at two study sites. The snowball principle which is a non-probability sampling technique was usually used by researchers to identify potential subjects in studies where subjects are difficult to locate. The potential respondents were approached and only those people who showed willingness to take part in the research were selected as respondents. The people who were willing to take part in research were interviewed until a reasonable number of respondents were interviewed. The initial respondents had to willingly and freely take part in the interview. Then researcher had to seek guidance from the initial respondent on who could be suitable and willing to be interviewed freely without suspicion until a reasonable number of respondents were reached. A total of 31 crop cultivators were sampled at New Farm in Mufulira from 26th April, 2007 to 14th November, 2007. whilst a total of 29 crop cultivators were sampled at Chilumba Gardens in Kafue from 17th September, 2013 to 12th December, 2013. The interview schedules were administered to selected crop cultivators. The questions in the interview schedule included questions on livelihood and farming activities b) Data analysis

The frequencies and percentages were used to analyse the responses from questions in the interview schedule. The Chi-square statistical test was used to ascertain the association between livelihoods and socioeconomic characteristics of informal crop cultivators.

The results indicated that both males and females engaged in crop production which indicated a fair proportional representation of male and female engaged in wastewater irrigation farming (Table 2). The results from this study confirmed the findings in the study by Hampwaye et al., (2007) on seasonal farming in City of Lusaka, Zambia where both females and males engaged in crop production. The results indicated that the majority of crop cultivators at the two study sites had attained either primary or secondary education (Table 3). The results indicated that the majority of respondents have large families which they supported (Table 4). The results indicated that the average the household size was seven persons with the minimum of three persons and maximum of eighteen persons at New Farm while the average the household size six persons with the minimum of two persons and maximum of thirteen persons at Chilumba Gardens which implied that the crop cultivators had a lot of people dependants. The results from this study were similar to findings in the study by Hampwaye et al., 2007 in rain fed farming areas of Lusaka where an average household size ranged from seven persons up to maximum of fifteen persons. The results indicated that the majority of respondents resided in high density residential areas and unplanned settlements at the two study sites (Table 5). The urban residential areas were potential sources of labour for crop production and provided readily available markets for crops. The results indicated that the average number of years of residence in a particular residential area by respondents was twenty two years with the minimum of five years to maximum of thirty eight years at New Farm in Mufulira while at Chilumba Gardens in Kafue the average number of years of residing in the residential area by the respondents was twenty four years with the minimum of one year to maximum of forty seven years The results indicated that the crop cultivators and members of their household were engaged in diverse of livelihood activities to earn a living at the two study sites (Table 6 and Table 7). The livelihood activities included on-farm activities such as crop production and the off-farm activities included formal employment, livestock rearing and business especially selling merchandise in grocery stalls (Tuntemba). The majority of the crop cultivators (54%) and their members of the households (21.4%) engaged in crop production as source of livelihood on full time basis at New Farm whiles a total of 65.5% of the crop cultivators and 44.4% of members of the households engaged in crop production as source of livelihood on full time basis at Chilumba Gardens. Some of the informal crop cultivators engaged in formal employment took part in crop production on part-time basis at New Farm (3.2%) and Chilumba Gardens (3.4%) which indicated that the informal crop cultivation provides an alternative means of supplementing income from wage labour for most of the urban poor who were engaged in formal employment which was similar to findings in the study by Saasa (1982) in seasonal farming in Kaunda Square residential area in Lusaka, Zambia and the study by Mac Gaffey (1983) in Kivu, North Eastern of Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). the crop cultivators practising wastewater irrigation and seasonal farming were engaged in multiple livelihood activities for self sustenance because it was likely that the people engaged in the two types of farming had similar socio-economic backgrounds.

It was hypothesised that there was no significant relationship between the cropping systems and livelihoods of crop cultivators. The Chi-square test indicated that: a) there was no significant association between livelihood activities and cropping systems at Chilumba Gardens (?2 =33.163 df=30, P>0.05) b) there was a significant association between selling at market and cropping systems at New Farm (?2 =38.08, df=22, P<0.05). All of respondents involved in selling at market were engaged in sugarcane mono cropping system. It can therefore be argued that the probable reasons which account for the fact that the crop cultivators involved in selling at markets were engaged in sugarcane mono cropping system included:

? low labour and inputs requirements;

? high returns on sugarcane; and

? less time spent attending to sugarcane production activities.

From the foregoing explanation, it can be argued that there was a significant relationship between cropping systems and livelihood activities. The results indicated that the crop cultivators practised the cropping systems such as sugarcane mono cropping which apparently contribute to sustenance of households through accumulation of capital to invest into other economic activities apart from crop production. The results from this study were similar to the findings from the study on wastewater irrigation in Hubli-Dharwad, India (Bradford et al., 2003).

The results indicated that the wastewater irrigated farming has been going for a long period of time. The results indicated that the average number of years of crop production by the respondents was 18 years with the minimum of 2 year to maximum of 41 years at New Farm in Mufulira while at Chilumba Gardens in Kafue the average number of years of crop production by the respondents was 13 years with the minimum of 1 year to maximum of 30 years. The results from this study were similar to findings in the study by Hampwaye et al., (2007) in Lusaka where the average length of time for cultivation was nine years with maximum of forty years.

The respondents indicated several reasons for starting crop growing which included lack of basic needs and income generation (Table 8). The reasons for starting crop growing using wastewater were similar to findings in the studies in seasonal farming in Zambia (Hampwaye et al., 2007;Mulenga, 1991;2001). According to the study by Hampwaye et al., (2007) in Lusaka, Zambia where the majority of crop cultivators indicated income generation. Earlier studies by Mulenga, (1991,2001) in Lusaka and Chipata, Zambia identified several reasons which included poverty, high population growth, strategic position of peri-urban areas in relation to urban markets and deteriorating economy associated with economic structural adjustment.

The results from this study revealed three sources of labour comprising hired labour, members of household and crop cultivators(Table 9) while the methods of payment for hired labour included money and kind such giving workers crops (Table 10) which implied that there was lack of separation of labour and means of crop production. Those in formal employment tended to their field plots during the weekend and when off duty while other household members or workers tended to field plots during the weekdays. The results indicated that the hired people were a source of labour for crop production in wastewater irrigation farming which was similar to the findings of the study by Raschid-Sally and Jayakody (2008) on wastewater irrigation farming in other developing countries.

Volume XIV Issue II Version I 20 ( B ) The results indicated that the informal crop cultivators and members of household provides a widely available alternative source of labour in order to avoid proletarianization through hired labour which implied that the crop commodities were produced at low cost under the non-capitalist relations of production and there was lack of separation of labour and means of crop production which was similar to findings in the study by Mac Gaffey (1983) in Kivu, North Eastern of Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and the study by Raschid-Sally and Jayakody (2008) on wastewater irrigation farming in other developing countries.

The crops were sold to multiple markets which included the local people in residential areas; local markets within town, urban markets in other towns and any other market (Figure 4 and Figure 5). The crops were consumed at the community or township level through the sales of crops in the local markets and other markets. The results indicated that the heavy metal contaminated crops were consumed by other members of the public and people in distant places such as Lusaka from Chilumba Gardens in Kafue and Kitwe from New Farm in Mufulira. The residential areas provide the readily available markets for crop produced in wastewater irrigation farming areas which was similar to the findings from study by Raschid-Sally and Jayakody (2008) on wastewater irrigation farming in other developing countries. The crops were sold at the local markets and any other markets which imply that the crops were sold at high prices in the capitalist markets hence the mode of distribution was through the formally organised economy by sales at the market which was similar to findings in the study by Mac Gaffey (1983) in Sample number (n=31) The respondents indicated that they used food crops for both domestic consumption (Table 11 Table 12 and Figure 6) and income generation through sale of crops (Table 13 and Table 14). Crops are consumed at household level which indicated that the heavy metal contaminated crops were consumed by the crop cultivators and members of their households. It can be argued that there is the likelihood of potential health risks associated with consumption of heavy metal contaminated food crops grown in wastewater irrigation farming systems in peri urban areas in Zambia. There were variations in terms of the proportion of total income of the households which came from the sale of crops (Table 15). The contribution of urban crop production to household income varied considerably which ranged from 100%, 75%, 16.7%, and 10% of household income respectively. These figures of income contribution to household are similar to findings from studies in urban agriculture in Zambia which indicated the proportion of 75%, 50% and 25% in Lusaka City Council (2005 cited in Hampwaye et al., 2007) while the proportion ranged from 48% to 53% as contribution to annual household income in Ndola, Kitwe and Kabwe (Hampwaye, 2013). The results from this study were similar to findings from the studies by Hampwaye et al., 2007 andHampwaye, 2013 in seasonal farming and the study by Mtonga, 2001 in wastewater irrigation in Zambia where crop cultivators indicated that they used crops for both domestic consumption and income generation. The results on the total income per year from livelihood activities are shown in Table 16. Results from this study indicated that the total income per year by crop cultivator was estimated at US$ 1,021=67 while the average total income per year was US$ 1,000=00 from the livelihood activities done by the members of their household at New Farm in Mufulira (the exchange rate was one US Dollar equivalent to four Zambian Kwacha in 2007). The total income per year by crop cultivators at Chilumba Gardens in Kafue was estimated at US$ 977=85 while the average total income per year was US$ 904=00 from the livelihood activities done by the members of their household (the exchange rate was one US Dollar equivalent to five Zambian Kwacha in 2013). Some of the income was generated from crop production activities. The total average income per year from sale of crops was US$ 815=91 (one United States Dollar to four Zambian Kwacha in 2007) with the minimum figure of US$50=00 and the maximum figure of US$ 2,000=00 at New Farm while the total average income per year from sale of crops was US$ 906=40=00 (One United States Dollar to five Zambian Kwacha in 2013) with the minimum of US$100=00 and maximum of US$ 2800=00 at Chilumba Gardens in Kafue. The total income per month as compared to non-taxable income threshold, basic needs and food basket showed that their living conditions were below the poverty datum line (Table 17) specified by the Zambian Government Central Statistical Office (Zambia Daily Mail, 2008a) which indicated that the majority of the crop cultivators were poor. The results from this study confirmed the perception that the majority of crop cultivators engaged in wastewater irrigation farming were seemingly poor in developing countries (Marshall et al., 2004; Raschid-Sally and Jayakody, 2008). The results from this indicated that wastewater urban agriculture provides livelihoods to the lowest income groups in the society in Zambia which was similar to findings from wastewater irrigated farming in Hyderabad City, Andhra Pradesh, India (Buechler et al., 2002). The foregoing explanation supports the view of urban agriculture as a coping strategy to challenging urban living conditions which is similar to findings from the studies by Jaeger and Hackabay, (1986), Mulenga, The land cultivated by crop cultivators was characterised by a complex multiple land tenure system. There was official ownership of the land by the private companies, local councils and commercial farmers who have the official title deeds issued by the Ministry of Lands. The cultivated land legally belongs to Mufulira Farms and Mufulira Municipal Council at New Farm in Mufulira while at Chilumba Gardens in Kafue the cultivated land officially belongs to the Nitrogen Chemicals of Zambia and Kafue District Council. On other the hand there was the unofficial ownership of land by the individual crop cultivators which is attained by the exchange of user rights through money, gift and inheritance (Table 18). It was apparently that the crop cultivators informally accessed the land cultivated at the two study sites. There were conflicts of interests between the formal owners of land and the crop cultivators who informally accessed land through inheritance, buying the land from others and being given as a gift. The kinship relationship among the crop cultivators is evident in the way the people transfer the user rights of cultivable land through inheritance, gifts from relatives and buying from other crop cultivators. The crop cultivators have developed the sub culture based on the customary traditional values of land tenure even though they did not officially own the land which they cultivate.

It can be argued that informal access to land by crop cultivators at the two study sites was an impediment to long term investment into farm infrastructures such as construction of permanent irrigation furrows and discouraged crop cultivators from practicing conservation farming. The findings confirmed results from the studies on seasonal farming in Zambia (Jaeger and Hackabay, 1986;Steckley andMuleba, 2003 Hampwaye et al., 2007) and wastewater irrigated farming in developing countries (Obuobie et al., 2003;2006) including Zambia (Kapungwe, 2011).

In conclusion the poor informal crop cultivators engaged in multiple livelihood activities to sustain household needs and accumulate capital. The mode of production of crops was low cost under informal non capitalist relations of production systems while the mode of distribution was through the formally organised economy by sales at the market. The opportunities of crop production included income generation and improved food security at household of crop cultivators. The major challenges were consumption of heavy metal contaminated food crops, poverty and informal access to the land cultivated. The results from this study were similar to findings from other studies in developing countries. The research findings would further the development of programmes that would improve livelihoods of urban poor. It is recommended relevant authorities can promote alternative income generation livelihood activities which can sustain the living standard of the crop cultivators engaged in heavy metal contaminated wastewater irrigation farming in Zambia.