Hydroponics: Farming Zambia out of Poverty
- Cindy Sipula
- 2 days ago
- 6 min read
As Zambia’s cities continue to swell at an unmatched pace, the promise of urban opportunity is colliding with the growing demand for food especially in areas where mining is a predominant source of livelihood for communities. In high density communities like Kitwe district, in the Copper belt region of Zambia, families are spending more than they can manage attributing to shrinking economies and the lack of access to nutritious foods.
Despite a rise in unemployment among the youth, and the increasingly rapid urbanization colliding with existing fragile food systems in Zambia, a young innovator is pioneering solution-based agriculture. Something that could remodel how cities feed themselves. In the aftermath of the 2023/2024 drought, the dependency on rain-fed produce defined much of the struggle, leaving many families without food and their futures uncertain.
Zambia faced one of its most severe droughts, affecting some 9.8 million people and declared a national disaster, severely affecting rural areas, with several provinces being hit hard.
Yet, green change began, not in sprawling rural fields but in tiny backyards, threaded together by a web of recycled plastic cups and tubing. The young man Eugine Mubika, a 23-year-old youth innovator has embarked on a food systems transformative agenda through the use of hydroponics setups. Pioneering this shift, its power is rooted in the autonomy and creativity of the individual. His smart agriculture initiative was birthed in 2024 through a company called Cosma Agro Solutions, a company practicing sustainable agriculture in three peri-urban areas of Masaiti, Kitwe and Ndola districts.
As a youth, at the center of implementing a project of hydroponics farming in local communities of Kitwe, the project aims at tackling food insecurity in the face of climate change and rapid urbanization. This story explores how his innovation could be a model for the food systems transformation agenda in Zambia.
Though pursuing a Bachelor’s Degree in Development Studies, Mubika has actively been promoting climate-smart innovation and sustainable food systems through community-based education and youth empowerment initiatives, while also continuing to introduce and support hydroponic systems as a modern, resource-efficient method of food production. “I feel engaging young people in practical learning and sustainable agriculture practices will help increase awareness of the benefits that lay within this farming method,” Mubika noted.
What Mubika is undertaking a hydroponics iniatiave, a process of growing crops without soil, while using water, pipes, and nutrients. Instead of planting in the ground, the system feeds plants directly through their roots. In a small backyard, plants grow not in soil but in plastic pipes, their roots suspended inside. A pump circulates nutrient-rich water through the system, feeding each plant directly. As the roots absorb what they need, the excess water is reused, making the process highly efficient.
With oxygen reaching the roots and conditions carefully controlled, the plants grow quickly and consistently—independent of rainfall. What results is a simple but powerful way to produce food, even in the face of drought.
While the plants grow, the roots within the tubes receive not just nutrients but also air to keep them healthy. Above, factors like light, water and nutrients are controlled to ensure crops don't have to rely on erratic weather conditions for water and other nutrients. This leads to a futuristic farming system that promotes faster growth and resource efficiency, enabling even small spaces within cities like Kitwe to produce fresh food sustainably.The momentum is not just coming from the grassroots, it is being mirrored in government halls.
In its pursuit to achieve food security and improve nutrition by 2030, Zambia embarked on national dialogues on the food systems transformation in line with Sustainable Development Goal Number 2 on Zero Hunger.
It has framed key food systems transformation pathways among them building Resilience to Vulnerabilities, shocks and Stresses which aims to promote the adoption of climate-smart agricultural practices including hydroponics.
It further seeks to create food systems ‘resilience policy and action plans between 2021-2030 to address food systems.
The Zambian government also intends to hasten the implementation of the National Food and Nutrition Act to facilitate effective coordination and collaboration among stakeholders.
For the National Food and Nutrition Commission (NFNC) the evolving of Zambia’s food system is timely if Zambia is to meet the global commitment to attain the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.
Mr. Matthews Mhuru, Deputy Executive Director of the National Food and Nutrition Commission (NFNC), emphasizes that Zambia’s food system has reached a point where it needs to be remodeled for it to survive.
"Zambia's food system has reached a point where it needs to be remodeled for it to survive." Mr. Matthews Mhuru, Deputy Executive Director of the National Food and Nutrition Commission (NFNC),
He has highlighted several key strategies that the commission have put in place to address any likely drought and hunger in future, centered on food system transformation agenda.
Mr. Mhuru believes that, “introducing precision farming means less water and a reduced carbon footprint that aligns to the countries target to meet climate control measures, international and local development goals, sustainably”.
“The use of Artificial Intelligence and drones is currently on the rise and as we continue to work around measures of climate change and food security, we need to embrace technology in the transformation of Zambia’s food systems.
The National Food and Nutrition Commission (NFNC) is at the forefront with efforts aimed at revolutionising the food system of Zambia through the linkage of young innovators and households.
By holding interactive discussions and conferences, the organisation has inspired Natural Resources Development College students to highlight innovative agricultural methods, including turning nutritious watermelon and baobab seed into coffee alternatives.
Moreover, the initiative goes beyond classroom learning to target inner-city areas like Kitwe, which are characterized by insufficient land for farming. Instead, the organisation encourages sack and pot gardening, enabling individuals to cut down the price of their “basic needs and nutrition basket.”
The NFNC has received clearance to open up an office in each district of the country, thus making it easy to implement the programs on a national scale revealed Mr. Mhuru.
“While currently focused on malnutrition hotspots, the government has approved the establishment of NFNC offices in every district across the country,” Mr. Mhuru stated.
Climate smart agriculture is not just a concept discussed in policy circles but a practical response to the growing urgency of food insecurity and environmental degradation. For a country whose livelihood is heavily dependent on rainfed agriculture, the intensity of droughts and other climate change related impacts are reshaping how farmers think and survive in the wake of food insecurities. While the aim of all hydroponic systems is to enhance control and efficiency in crop production, the environment in which plants are grown in many cases the main limiting factor to their productivity.
Zambia’s reliance on maize and rain-fed crops has created what Martin Kayanga, a Monitoring and Evaluation Officer for the Ndola Nutrition Organisation, calls a "double burden" of malnutrition and food instability.
"It is imperative that Zambia moves from maize-based agriculture and adopts sustainable systems like hydroponics," Kayanga asserts.
Mr. Kayanga reaffirms that smart agriculture is not just about growing food, but it is about dietary diversification and post-harvest pest control both critical components in a country where climate change has made traditional seasons unpredictable.
He further agrees that Zambia's food system has remained weak due to harsh climate change impacts such as the severe droughts experienced during the 2023/2024 rainfall season. His emphasis lies on adopting modern technology as a prerequisite for dietary diversification.
Eugine Mubika is working with the Ndola Nutrition Organisation and the Copper belt Health Education Project (CHEP) in setting up hydroponics systems that are transforming the nutrition aspect of the food systems transformative agenda.
The hydroponics model created by Eugine is a smart agriculture initiative that is offering education as well training to families in densely populated areas of the Copper belt.
In the heart of Kitwe’s Chimwemwe Township is Mary Muliyunda,a youth who has taken hydroponics farming to a new level by recycling used plastic bottles for hydroponics farming.
In her small backyard with barely space for a garden, she has set up small vegetable garden where she is growing vegetables in water bottles using the knowledge gained from Eugine Mubika’s innovative initiatives.
Ms. Muliyunda who is also part of the Urban Future Project said growing soilless vegetables has saved her from spending money on farming on a large piece of land.
“Houses in Chimwemwe compound are very close to each other and we have less space for gardens and this made us buy vegetables everyday but with this initiative, we are able to save a lot of money,” she said.
As Zambia battles ongoing climate change and frequent droughts, young innovators like Eugine Mubika are charting a new course through technological, strategic, and sustainable farming.
His efforts highlight that the future of agriculture isn't limited to rural landscapes, but also thrives in small urban spaces using solutions like hydroponics. By empowering communities to turn limited areas into high-output, sustainable food sources, this approach offers a hopeful path for enhancing food security amid environmental challenges.
Test your knowledge: What is aquaponics
Growing only plants in water.
Raising fish and growing plants together in one recirculatin
This story was produced with support from the Leveraging Knowledge Management to Enhance Policy Harmonization and Domestication for Agricultural Transformation in East and Southern Africa project led by the Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network (FANRPAN) and supported by AGRA
Originally published on the Times of Zambia newspaper
Comments