“What you see here is a demonstration of what we work towards, to lead small-scale farmers to agri businesses that have the products and the services that they need to grow,” says Pamela Hamasaka, Head of Corporate Affairs of Musika.

Pamela is passionate about helping people, but not through handouts. Everything Musika does is aimed at helping people to develop ways to help themselves. The word, Musika, means market and that implies economic success.

Pamela says: “When we talk about the relationship between the farmer and the business, it does not just have to be a transactional relationship, we try to develop relationships that go beyond the transaction itself. We try to promote value-add services. We expect of the companies to also provide extension services to the farmer. We believe the private sector has the knowledge, and experience, and they are best suited to pass on that knowledge to farmers.”

Musika facilitates commercial relationships between the private sector and the farmers by providing technical and financial support necessary to expand market opportunities.

“We help companies to extend their reach into areas where their technologies are needed, we buy down the risk for the private sector,” she says.

From its inception in 2011 Musika has been funded by the Swedish embassy. Last year additional funds for specific projects were obtained from Irish Aid, Norad, and WorldFish.

With these funds Musika can utilise the market systems approach to develop interventions in nutrition, SME capacity building, and aquaculture, respectively. 

460 000 people have benefitted from improved market conditions, over $40 million has been invested by the private sector, and 88 companies are involved in projects with Musika’s support.

Pamela says they are making a difference: “I have seen farmers grow from nothing, never even thinking of mechanising, now eager for technology and improving their yields. They are hungry for knowledge and for them farming is no longer “business as usual”; they are now seeing it as a business venture and so they are all constantly looking for opportunities for growth.”

Farmers are now prepared to change their practices to achieve higher yields, and they are also prepared to diversify. 

One of the successful projects displayed prominently at the Musika stand this year was Plant a Million. It has the dual purpose of fighting deforestation in Zambia by replacing the bush with usable trees and providing another means of income for farmers.

Emanuel Chibesakunda says 276 000 hectares are cleaned out in Zambia every year, which means 100 million trees are being cut down. Most of the wood is being used to make charcoal. $170 million of charcoal is traded in Lusaka every year.

Plant a Million aims to replace the trees with fruit trees or trees that can be used as fences or firebreaks. Essential oils and beauty products are also produced from some of these indigenous tree species.

Musika is involved in the project by helping to establish the largest greenhouse for indigenous tree saplings in Zambia. The greenhouse has the capacity to grow a million trees at a time!

For more information on Musika visit www.musika.org.zm.