Agroforestry orchards
Scaling climate-smart agroforestry orchard systems in Chief Cooma chiefdom.
Group photo with His Royal Highness Chief Cooma at the Mboole citrus plantation during a chiefdom citrus investment plan session for five wards of Cooma chiefdom (Photo: Jonsen Habachimba)
The Mboole Rural Development Initiative (MRDI) is a forest and farmer producer organisation (FFPO) located in the Cooma chiefdom of Choma district in Southern province in Zambia.
MRDI’s original aim was to improve landscape management by restoring degraded land and revitalising citrus production in the area. Yet chronic water scarcity from erratic rainfall severely constrained their progress, placing environmental stress on trees, impeding yields and limiting opportunities to diversify production. Without a sustainable water source or climate-smart knowledge, Mboole could not expand its restoration ambitions.
Forest and Farm Facility activities
Support from the Forest and Farm Facility (FFF) transformed this trajectory through two grants in 2023 and 2024, which supported irrigation investments, technical training and the establishment of agroforestry orchard gardens.
Mboole gained the capacity to rehabilitate orchards, diversify production and scale landscape restoration. It also installed two irrigation systems, which improved citrus growth and enabled reliable seedling production.
With water constraints addressed, Mboole successfully expanded its citrus orchard to 20 hectares, with an additional five-hectare agroforestry garden, demonstrating climate-smart production systems anchored in sustainable water use.
Four hundred citrus trees are now in full production at Mboole’s orchard, generating over US$31,300 annually, with 60% of earnings shared with members and 40% reinvested into irrigation expansion, orchard improvement and a soft-loan facility supporting over 1,000 community members.
Significance of impact
Farmer learning and uptake expanded rapidly, with 250 farmers applying agroforestry orchard techniques on their own farms (350 hectares in total). Some 50 households now access fresh vegetables all year round through a new 10-hectare agroforestry orchard garden. A local tree nursery established through FFF support further expanded the impact by supplying seedlings for community planting and the expanding orchard systems.
Central to long-term sustainability, FFF also facilitated the development of the Chiefdom Strategic Plan, following a formal request to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) by Chief Cooma. This strengthened traditional leadership engagement and led to increased support from Chief Cooma for land restoration efforts, thereby accelerating adoption, ensuring local ownership and helping embed climate-resilient practices into the chiefdom’s long-term development agenda.
These developments attracted complementary climate-resilient innovations via an SNV Netherlands Development Organisation project and Scaling Up Nutrition II project implemented through FAO. The project installed two rainwater-harvesting reservoirs (used by 36 farmers), three biodigesters (adopted by 41 households for renewable energy and organic fertiliser production), and integrated fish ponds providing fresh fish and nutrient-rich irrigation water, leading 11 farmers to construct their own ponds.
Beekeeping expanded through 20 installed beehives, with an ‘outgrower’ scheme distributing 50 additional hives.
Conclusion
Today, the Mboole Rural Development Initiative stands as one of the best practice chiefdom models in Southern province, restoring degraded land and building a resilient, community-led, climate-smart landscape with sustained livelihood impacts.
Further reading
News: Zambian President launches development plan led by communities (October (2024)
Forest and Farm Facility 2023 annual report: climate resilient landscapes and improved livelihoods, Forest and Farm Facility (2024)