Cecilia Nyrongo lives in Makoka village in Kasavasa area near Kabwe. She has been practicing CF for 5 years, after hearing about it on the radio and then making contact with the CFU when they came into her area. She has learnt about CF from her female FC Ruth Nyrongo, and they are both supported by the local CFU Field Officer Ruth Phiri. This strong woman manages without a husband to support her 16 children and grandchildren who depend on her and the profits from her farming.
Before, when she was farming conventionally, she cultivated 2ha. Now she manages 10 ha, through land she lives on and uses, neighboring land she rents, and a 4ha farm she has recently managed to buy near Kapiri. She has been able to expand the area because she uses herbicides, which makes weeding time far shorter, even though before she would sometimes hire casual labour to supplement their own efforts.
She prepares her land by hiring tractor ripping services (TSP). This year she was finished with her land prep by September. Her previous yields used to be around 35 x 50gs bags of maize in a good year, so from her 2ha she would get about 70 x 50kgs bags. Now she averages about 100 x 50kg bags per hectare, which means that on the 10ha she farms she has the potential to earn 1,000 bags. Now her family eat better, she manages to pay the school fees for 5 of the children still of school age, and she is keeping chickens.
