Sebastian Scott’s simple life

AT first glance, one would not even easily tell this is Guy Scott’s son – as he paces around the farmyard in cargo shorts, and a hat made of reeds – but that is how simple Sebastian has chosen to lead his life.

His house has twelve different colours and brands of iron sheets on it.

All roofing sheets, windows and some of the timber were rejects or second-hand but Sebastian made good use of them to build the place he now proudly calls home.

The 43-yeard-old father of three, Nia, 17, Eva 14, and Luke 11, lives in Kafue rural on his farm.

He is an organic farmer and does almost every work on the farm by himself, despite the status destiny has attached him to or the two helpers he has.

He is a hands-on kind of person, perhaps a real-life jack of all trades.

“I did all the bricklaying, roofing, concrete, plumbing, electrical, welding, painting, plastering, fitting and whatever else myself. With brick making, we were three to make the 7,000 bricks for the house. For bricklaying I had one assistant to make mortar and hand me the bricks,” Sebastian reveals when talking about his house.

Considering that he is a son of a former Vice-President, who at one time acted as Zambia’s President, one would expect Sebastian to live the high life but he has chosen to be simple and instead lives in the remote areas of Kafue, in a place called Kasusa.

He set up base there 15 years ago when he relocated to continue with organic farming, which he started in England and Australia over 20 years ago.

Together with his wife, Holly, they are transitioning nine hectares of land with a collection of a thicket into wealth using the simplest of methods in organic farming.

Half of the land is cultivated, about 4.5 hectares, while the other part of the land is used for animal grazing.

Sebastian finds himself regularly needing to fine-tune land management strategies as he continues to learn about farming and organic crop production.

His interest in plants dates way back to his days as a child.

“I was born at Kalulushi Mine Hospital and at the age of five, we relocated to England. And after completing my school in England, I started working on organic farms. I was born and raised in a family that believed in improving and sustaining the environment for everyone’s benefit. We are all here because the environment is supporting our lives.”

“It is in England where I started reading agriculture text books on organic farming and I also worked on a number of farms in England in order to learn how to grow crops without adding fertiliser and chemicals. I attended a number of workshops and seminars until I found a way of doing this, the natural way of growing crops in a less costly way.”

After relocating back to Zambia from Australia, he continued with his organic farming when he started working at Kasisi Agricultural Training Centre.

After leaving Kasisi, he went to Kafue to settle on his farm.

One may think because of him being white and a former Vice-President’s son he would be detached from the community around him. But surprisingly, his relationship with the people in Kasusa is good.

When asked how he relates with the community, Sebastian answered: “My relationship is good. We work together, address issues and over the years we have gotten on well with everyone.”

Sebastian did his primary and secondary school in London because his father had gone back to England, where he got a job at Oxford University.

‘Seba’, as he is fondly called by villagers around his farm, is a third-born of four children (three males and a female).

But despite being a son to a man who has lived all his life in and around politics, Sebastian does bot seem keen on following his father’s footsteps.

“I have not thought of being in politics. The biggest role I can play is to help the economy grow in rural Zambia by sharing the organic knowledge with them. I think I can serve people better in my passion as an organic farmer as opposed to being in politics.

“Maybe when I am too weak to hold a hoe, then I can consider politics but for now, farming is what is on my mind, nothing else,” Sebastian said.

And the feeling of being the Vice-President’s son, how was it for Sebastian?

“It was strange being son of Vice-President. Luckily I kept a low profile and I was happy with my dad and step-mother that they got to that level. It was interesting but I made sure I continued with what I was doing, organic farming,” Sebastian said.

Each time his father visits, Sebastian said, they talk about farming.

“He is very passionate about agricultural and rural development. We discuss these issues at great length and he supports my work 100 percent,” Sebastian said.

On his nine hectares of land, Sebastian grows pumpkins, soya beans, groundnuts, pigeon peas and maize.

Sebastian uses the maize and soya beans as feed for his animals.

“We make double the money from the soya and maize by making it as feed. We have 50 pigs, 250 layers and five cows.”

“For me having come from a family where both my grand-fathers were interested in improving life around them, I find it defining in how my father has chosen his way of life. We have citrus, oranges and lemons, we have bananas. We grow 22-plus different kinds of vegetables,” he said.

Maanda Sianga: Young farmer living her dream

AGRICULTURE might not be the most attractive industry to many young people out there, but 25-year-old Maanda Sianga considers farming as a game changer for youth problems.

Maanda who practices mixed farming on family land in Kafue’s Chanyanya area is among an increasing number of university-educated agriculture entrepreneurs in Zambia.

After she graduated from university at Mulungushi in Kabwe, Maanda was reluctant to tell anyone especially her peers what she planned to do for a living.

“I’m a farmer,” she said, displaying two huge live fish from her ponds. “Commonly, other young people may look at it (being a farmer) as an embarrassment.”

Maanda graduated from the university in 2019 and directly went into farming instead of looking for a white collar job.

She is fighting the stigma by seeking to professionalise farming by applying scientific approaches and data-crunching apps not just to increase yields, but to show that agriculture can be profitable.

She runs an award winning company called Agro Queens Trading.

Her interest in commercial farming bloomed in 2012 after a school tour of Zambeef Huntley Farm in Chisamba when she was in her 10^th grade at Banani International Secondary School. She was 15.

“I visited Zambeef Huntley farm in 2012 in my 10th grade and from that day I knew exactly what I wanted to do. I was so impressed with what they were doing and I told myself I too can do it this big,” she said.

Going back to Banani, Maanda started visualising herself as a budding farmer.

To cement her ambitions, upon completing her school in 2014 she went for a Bachelor’s of Science in agriculture at Mulungushi University and completed in 2018.

In July 2019, at the age of 22, Maanda ventured into farming full-time.

Growing up on a family farm she got more interested in being part of the family business and this also helped her start  Agro Queens using the infrastructure on the farm.

“I went to Westwood international in Botswana where I grew up until 2012 when we moved back to Zambia. I developed interest at 15 years old because I saw that farming is that noble profession because food does not run out of fashion. People eat every day,” she said.

Born on May 14, 1997, Maanda was born in Gaborone, Botswana. She is the youngest of three children.

Two of her sisters are also working at the family farm. One did accounting while the other computer science.

Maanda keeps a wide range of poultry. She is into fish farming and grows a wide range of assorted vegetables, soya beans and other grains like maize.

With the risk involved in farming and instability of market prices diversification has allowed Maanda to effectively run her business.

“Mixed farming helps me spread risk when one line is down you can rely on another,” she said.

Agro Queens also has a wide range of services apart from farming.

“We also train farmers and farm workers from 2020 till date we have trained 4,000 people across Zambia and some abroad. We also have sponsors who sponsor people for our trainings too. We also offer consultancy services to farmers. We help farmers to budget and source inputs,” Maanda said.

Maanda recently held an online training of over 700 participants from United Kingdom, Botswana, Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, Germany and Zambia among many other countries.

For Maanda, farming has a steep challenge just like any other venture. Undeveloped distribution networks, poor roads and fickle water supplies are difficult hurdles for even the most competent farmer, and many of these would-be farmers who have little training or experience.

Rolling up sleeves and bucking convention as early as 05:30 every day, Maanda has left behind cushy jobs.

She has opted to use land and make agriculture her profession at an early age.

“We have to show people that farming is bling. I want to transform mind-sets,” Maanda said, holding an organic soya beans seedling.

“If we fail, it means the industry has failed. It means we have failed many young people.”

She has one promise, “Farming will never be easy just like any other venture.”

But how many people does she work with.

“So with workers I have them for specific tasks. I have groups of women between 5 to 15 depending on work available,” Maanda said.

Maanda is also an award winning young farmer and Ted X Speaker.

At a glance, Maanda might seem to be a misplaced representative for Zambian agriculture. She’s made appearances in several high level meetings.

Maanda said if she had to do it all again she would still be in agriculture.

It’s no secret, she has repeated this to millions on her personal Facebook page.

Maanda said given its sheer magnitude, even minor improvements in Zambian agriculture have the potential to determine the prosperity of the entire country.

“Over the next decade, the sector is going to have to expand, considerably to nourish a growing and much younger population. The industry is ripe with opportunities that will inevitably shape the economies of tomorrow,” she said.

Maanda is betting that Zambia’s next big ideas are probably going to be in its agriculture.

She said the diversification journey has just begun.

Her next goal is dairy farming.

“A few days ago I found my 10th grade book where I wrote down how I really wanted to become a dairy farmer. It was quite an ambiguous (uncertain) goal of having 1,000 milkers (Dairy cows). 10 years later my dream will materialise,” she said.

Her current project now is building structures that will house the 1,000 dairy cows.

Author: DOREEN NAWA