Farmers are the same!

Farmers in Zambia are the same as farmers in Canada in many ways. Doing exactly what you should have done last year, instead of doing what you should do this year is an excellent example. Last year the cotton crop was big, as a result, the price was low/kg (~1,300 kwacha/kg). As a result, less people grew cotton this year, so the crop was smaller so the price is higher (~2,600kwacha/kg). Next year…lots of people will grow cotton, and I’m sure the price will be less again.

In my home province, the spring was late and cold last year. As a result, the farmers who planted early lost a lot of their crop to coldness and had to re-seed. This year nearly everyone waited to plant and then had a hard time getting the crop seeded in time. It’s like playing yesterdays lotto numbers, it doesn’t work.