Developing new crops in Africa - Will's placement story

Placements with Harper Adams University can take students to all kinds of places – and offer all kins of experience.
For Agriculture student Will, his year in industry has seen him working in a challenging but rewarding role growing new crops in Africa – as he explores in this guest blog.

When looking at University prospects Harper Adams was my first choice due to their offering of the year-long practical placement requirement. 

In my case, this has allowed me to experience a very different type of agriculture compared to the UK! 

I was fortunate enough to find a placement opportunity as a junior manager on a large-scale arable operation in the Mkushi farming block, Zambia.  

This covers  a wide range of crops and cropping systems including 27,000 macadamia trees, 1400 ha of centre pivots under irrigation and 600ha of dryland cropping spread across four farms.  

Since being in Zambia I have been exposed to an extremely varied job role, my main focus has been starting a new business venture for the farm, growing sweet cherry peppers. 

I have been responsible for overseeing the implementation of the daily operation in the form of fertiliser applications and spraying whilst also having a hand in designing new Standard Operating Procedures for each aspect of the peppers’ growth and post-harvest processing in our own purpose-built factory. 

Due to the nature of the crop, it is incredibly labour intensive, in some cases up to 400 people working in the pepper section alone. 

Experience working with large a large labour force is something that is very difficult to come by and I have found it to be an extremely valuable skill to have been lucky enough to be exposed to. 

This farming business works very closely with the community - supporting local health clinics, schools and providing a huge amount of employment for the area. Across all of our farms at peak we will provide employment for up to 800 people.  

Some may look at a placement in Africa and think that it is similar to other placements abroad - but farming in developing countries is a lot more demanding than in the first world. 

Most parts and spares have to come from the capital that is a six-hour drive away and with weather patterns changing on a global scale, the already challenging conditions are exacerbated.. 

Since my arrival mid-way through the wheat season, it was very evident the strain that all of the local farmers were under, both the small-scale and the commercial farmers.  

Zambia has been suffering from major power problems, in some instances there being no power for 48 hours - and a much lower than average rainfall for the previous rainy season as well as the current one. This puts immense pressure on farming businesses that rely so heavily on both reliable power and water when operating irrigated cropping programs. 

The skills and experiences that my placement year has allowed me to learn from and continue to develop are priceless and will stay with me for life, most are extremely transferable and have pushed me to constantly become a better version of myself. 

I would recommend to anyone who has a passion for agriculture and wants to farm to put Harper as their first choice for University.