"Farming has now become completely different and difficult," laments Dickson Siangoma.

Mr Siangoma is a headman at Malundu Village in Lusitu area of Siavonga and is struck by the changing weather patterns and conditions that have made farming a little less predictable and a high risk venture.

He wonders what has become of the world.

"When the rain comes, it pours continuously for almost a whole day causing damage to crops. The weather pattern is in disarray. There is either too much rain causing floods, destroying houses and washing away fields, roads and bridges or there is drought. The situation is getting worse every day," he says.

Climate change is an issue that has affected many farmers' livelihoods world over. It has been established that agriculture is particularly vulnerable to climate variability.

Small-scale farmers have been hit the most because of their limited capacity to adapt.

But at the same time, unsustainable farming practises are said to contribute to climate change, posing a great challenge to environmental sustainability, particularly through deforestation as they continue to search for productive agriculture farmlands.

New evidence from a study from the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) indicates that on-going extreme changes and variability in Zambia's climate could bring losses of more than US$4 billion in agricultural income in the next 10 years, driving hundreds of thousands into poverty and food insecurity.

While the above is a reality, the Copenhagen climate negotiations that were expected to give immediate hope to the helpless farmers, by and large concluded in what was code named "No Deal" i.e. without the expected ambitious legally binding framework necessary for supporting, especially those most affected to deal with the impacts already experienced.

The outcome of the "Copenhagen Accord of 18 December 2009" is not a legally binding document. The parties just took note of the accord and therefore are not bound by decisions. This means that decisions were postponed to the next climate negotiations due this year in Mexico.

While the highly political stakes continue to take centre-stage in delaying these important decisions, farmers cannot wait as they are already suffering from the effects of climate change. They must adapt or die.

In view of the sad state of affairs, an organisation called Participatory Ecological Land and Use Management (PELUM) is presently working with farming communities to help them make informed choices towards an improved quality of life.

PELUM is a regional network comprising a consortium of more than 200 farmer organisations and is available in 10 countries in Eastern, Central and southern Africa with branches in Zambia.

Recently, the organisation carried out a sensitisation programme targeting farmers in Southern province to determine the extent of global warming and its effect on climate change.

And it was during one of the programmes that Mr Siangamo voiced his concerns.

At a different forum, a Kitwe farmer Kevin Soper observed that there was no doubt climate change was occurring in Zambia.

He said over the next 50 years, there would be dramatic change that would affect the traditional crop growing regions of Eastern, Central, Lusaka and Southern provinces.

Mr Soper said climate change would adversely affect rainfall, which in turn would lead to a further shortage of available water for irrigation, fisheries, human consumption, industry and ultimately hydroelectric generation.

He said though climate change was a global phenomenon, Zambians were compounding its problems by doing little to control environmental issues as related to pollution and food production.

Mr Soper suggested that charcoal production should be revised such as encouraging people to produce charcoal from wood shavings.

According to Mr Soper, if implemented the measure could save in excess of 30,000 hectares of forest lost annually, especially that the same charcoal can be substituted for coal which Zambia has resources of over 2000 years.

"Farmers must by law obtain licenses to fell any tree or clear bush. Currently there is a tendency by new land owners to cut all the trees down for charcoal as a quick cash crop at the expense of actual farming," he said.

And chief Mumena of the Kaonde people of North-Western Province said it was important for farmers to take a keen interest in climate change issues if they were to add value to their farming activities.

He said soon after attending an environmental workshop organised by the Norwegian Church-Aid Organisation (NCAO) at The Royal Solwezi Hotel that farmers and traditional leaders needed to be sensitised on climate change.

"We need to ensure that everybody was proactive to preserving and using natural resources sustainably," he said.

The chief said charcoal burning should be dealt with decisively as it was posing a threat to the environment.

He warned that indiscriminate cutting down of trees would affect the eco-system in North-Western Province, which is the source of the Zambezi and Kafue rivers.

"Government should introduce carbon trading so that trees are not consumed for charcoal production," Chief Mumena.

He said the forestry department was not effectively reducing deforestation and asked that the policy to restructure the department, which has been on hold since 1998, be revisited.

PELUM Campaign Advocacy Lobby Officer Agnes Yawe says the concerns raised by farmers need to be investigated by the authorities without delay.

She believes that solutions enabling farmers to adapt to climate change do exist and need to be scaled up with the minimum local resources to enhance farmer capacity.

The following have been tested by PELUM and the farmers and, offer solutions to current climate crisis.

.Adaptation to mainly floods and droughts can be tackled through sustainable farming practises such as conservation agriculture, organic farming. The core of these practises emphasise maximum utilisation of available water resources through early and timely planting.

·Climate change as a result of human influence through deforestation, destruction of water-bodies and inadequate land-use, wasting resources like rainwater, soils, vegetation and livestock needs to be checked. Mechanisms to regulate and guide farmers on how to sustainably utilise these resources are critical. These should be both regulatory and educational/awareness.

·Traditional knowledge systems have for long enabled farmers deal with such changes. These need to be identified, documented and passed on through appropriate channels that reach farmers, in addition, these should be recognised by global, regional and national policy frameworks, development and research mechanisms.

·Farmer capacity building in ecological profitable, high yielding land-use methods will improve yields sustainably by several 100 per cent. Farmer trainers in these methods, documentation of ecological and economical successes for wider farmer sharing through farmer learning platforms will enhance adaptation.