August 28, 2025
News
Koji and Kisimba are two young farmers who met in the Meheba refugee settlement. Today they are not only best friends but also entrepreneurs building a thriving farm together. Like many other farmers in Zambia, they grapple with the effects of climate change, especially prolonged droughts. Thanks to an irrigation system provided by Caritas Czech Republic, their yields have improved, and they are already considering expanding their farm.
Turning friendship into a thriving farm
Kisimba comes from the Democratic Republic of Congo and fled to Zambia in 2016 because of ongoing conflict. For three decades eastern Congo has been plagued by armed militias, rebel attacks and violence against civilians. Koji was born in Zambia, but his family had fled Angola’s civil war. Today both live in the Meheba settlement, united not only by friendship but also by a shared dream: building a prosperous farm. “Our collaboration is no longer just friendship. We’re like family,” Kisimba says.
From herding to crop farming
When Kisimba arrived in Zambia in 2016, he had experience herding livestock but wanted to learn crop farming. Koji introduced him to agriculture and guided him on his first steps. They met right in the fields when Kisimba approached Koji for help and asked to learn how to grow vegetables. Partnering with Koji was also the only way for Kisimba to gain access to land.
“People from Congo struggle to get fertile land in the settlement because refugees from other countries arrived earlier and claimed it,” Koji explains.
An irrigation system from Caritas helps them beat the drought
Like many Zambian farmers, Koji and Kisimba suffer the effects of climate change. Prolonged droughts had shrunk their harvest. “Even the stream we normally rely on almost dried up, which hurt our production,” Kisimba says. The turning point came when they received an irrigation system from Caritas Czech Republic. “Production improved immediately. We irrigate faster and more efficiently, and we no longer have to haul water in buckets,” he adds. Both farmers also attended training on climate-resilient crops, which helped streamline the entire operation.
Their farm now prospers, and both men dream of further expansion and higher yields. “We still have a lot of unused land, so in the future we’d like to grow,” says Koji. On the day we visited, they had just learned that with Caritas’s help, they had secured a contract with a local company for regular tomato deliveries.
Caritas Czech Republic helps Zambian farmers adapt to climate change
Zambia is one of the countries increasingly affected by climate change, and local farmers—whose livelihoods depend on agriculture—feel the strain most. We support farmers like Koji and Kisimba so they can continue to grow crops despite the changing climate.
