DOC ShOrtage hitS POultry inDuStry

See story on page 14

K10

DOW

NLOA

D E-

COPI

ES - W

WW

.AGR

ICOO

PNEW

SPAP

ER.C

OM

www.agricoopnewspaper .com Agricoopnews+260 955 791 676Agricoop Newspaper agricoopnews

ECF Outbreak in Monze

Farm

ers N

ews,

all S

easo

ns.

Californian Beverages Ltd.

MARC

H 20

21 V

OLUM

E 14

3

DOC ShOrtage hitS POultry inDuStry

Govt Empowers Mtilizi Cooperative In NyimbaBy HELEN WITTI

MTILIZI cooperative society in Nyimba district of Eastern province has praised govern-ment for the two million, one

hundred and ninety-six thou-sand kwacha.

Mtilizi Cooperative Chairperson, Akani Jere has commended government for honouring its

promise, as the funds will be utilised to better peoples’ lives in the resettlement scheme in their different enterprises.

Mr Jere says the resettlement

scheme will be transformed as the people in the area are ready to prudently use the funds.

He was speaking when he gave a vote of thanks during the hand over ceremony of a 60 horse power TAFE tractor in Mtilizi area of Nyimba district.

Mr Jere has since called on fellow cooperative members to work together in unity and ensure that the project yields good fruits.

And gracing the handover ceremony, Minister in the Office of the Vice President, Olipa Phiri who is also the Area Member of Parliament for Nyimba disclosed that the tractor and the accessories are just part of the 25 percent of the total grant.

Ms. Phiri further revealed that the Republican President Edgar Lungu approved a total grantof K2, 196,000 to Mtilizi cooperative society.

She explained that the grant was under the Zambia Inte-grated Forestry Landscape project (ZIFL-P).

Ms Phiri added that govern-ment seeks to improve the liv-ing standards people without leaving anyone behind.

She further called for social behavioral change and en-lightened the community that government has embarked on several empowerment pro-grammes aimed at ensuring that every Zambian has access and gets a share of the nation-al cake if they are creative and willing to work.

Ms Phiri was also quick to caution the beneficiaries not to personalise the tractor.

She further called on the ben-eficiaries to properly utilize the equipment and conserve

nature even as they ventured into farming.

“Allow me now to remind the beneficiaries of these pieces of equipment that they must put it to good use and for the benefit of the community. Please learn at all costs to conserve nature even as you venture into farm-ing,” she said.

Story on page 7

AGRI-COOP NEWSPAPER, MARCH 2021 | VOLUME 143

agricoopnewsAgricoopnews0955 791 676www.agricoopnewspaper.com Agricoop Newspaper

2 ADVERTISEMENT

Plot No. 1694, Lumumba Road, Near Lumumba /Kalambo Traffic Lights Lusaka. Zambia, Tel: 021 1355 458 Mobile: +260 969914558, +260 975439651, 0964 172120, 0972 904505

Email: [email protected], [email protected].

A member of CropLifeZAMBIA

�.me�zcvcl

ZAMBIAN CROP & VETERINARY CARE LTD

www.zcvcl.org

“Connecting Farmers To Better Platform For Growth”

3

talking Vegetables with Seedco

Eric K Mwenda (Commonly known as Mr. Tomato,The Guru) is Head of Vegetable Business Unit at Seedco Zambia.If your desire is to grow Profitable Vegetables please do not hesitate to con-tact him on:

Mobile+260-966-784515Email: eric.mwenda@seedco-

group.comWatch him on ABNTV every Wednesday Top star channel

107Facebook:Eric K Mwenda

Mr tomato

Cauliflower Production

Cauliflower belongs to the Cab-bage family. It almost looks like broccoli so much you would think it is a variety of broccoli, they are different though.

Cauliflower growing in Zambia is not a common thing as it is not a crop you can find with majority growers. However due to de-mand curves caused by a sharp desire for better improved diets, Cauliflower is slowly becoming ‘’a must have crop’’ on the calen-dar of a business savvy grower. Cauliflower is endowed with rich nutritional content either when it is eaten raw or when it is cooked. It takes cauliflow-er roughly 3 months to reach maturity which creates room for at least two growing batches if grown open field. Maturity varies from variety to variety.

Nevada variety from Seed-CO-matures after eighty days(80 days). The market prices for Cauliflower are also very good with one cauliflower fetching as much as K6 farmgate price depending on issues of supply and demand.

BUSINESS PROSPECTS

Four decision Pillars

1. Farmgate prices can go as high as K6/Head subject to supply and demand (Plant populations of 22-30,000Plants/Ha)Easy to grow crop with mini-mum management but with high turn over

2. Less input costs-Keeping you the farmer in business during this time to serious-ly manage your production costs

3. At this crucial time raising capital to manage busi-nesses can be challenging but with Cauliflower Growing this is a dream come true (More return for every Kwacha spent)

HEALTH BENEFITS OF CAULI-FLOWER

1. Rich in carbohydrates and calories – its superior rich-ness is in Vitamins though (C and K in particular).

2. Potency in warding off can-cer and heart diseases – 2 of the most ruthless human health struggles globally.

3. Cauliflower contains a high amount of fibre, which is important for digestive health and may reduce the risk of several chronic diseases.

When is the best time to plant NEVADA cauliflower Variety?

Winter from April- July is the best time although sometimes we have prolonged cool weather which can enable a grower to have the last crop harvested in August or September.It is important to note that cauliflow-er is generally very hard to grow during hot seasons (summer in particular). In conditions like that, they will reach maturity sooner than they should. Thus, their curds or heads will be small and exposed (due to poorly developed leaves).

How is the Market for Cauliflow-er look like in Zambia?

It is a specialised market crop

and therefore demand is coming from supermarkets, lodges/hotels, restaurants, Tuesday markets and many other special marketplaces.

Although certain other big open markets some supplies are done there

ADAPTABILITY

SOIL & TEMPERATURE REQUIRE-MENTS

• Grows best in sandy loam soils which retain moisture, good drainage and good fertility.

• Optimum PH is 6– 6.5.

• Optimum temperature 16-20 degrees Celsius

At PH less than 5.0 liming must be done to correct the soil acidity.

PLANT POPULATION/HA

22,000-30,000 Plants

Spacing 50cm x 60cm or 55cm(Inter-row) by 45cm(In-tra-row)

Although the spacing may differ from farmer to farmer a total Plant Population of Cauliflower up to 35,000/Ha is still desirable.

SEEDING TO TRANSPLANTING

4-5 Weeks depending on the weather. Cold weather the seed-lings may take a bit longer.

CROP NUTRITION

Did you know you can maximise your input utilization by follow-ing certain industry agronomic practices?

Crop nutrition industry experts have come up with what is called the 4R Nutrient Stewardship.

What are the 4RS?

1. Right Source (Matches fertilizer type to crop needs)

2. Right Rate (Matches amount of fertilizer type to crop need)

3. Right Time (Makes nutrients available when crops need them)

4. Right Place (Keep nutrients where crops can use them)

4R Nutrient Stewardship pro-vides a framework to achieve cropping system goals such as increased production, increased farmer profitability, enhanced environmental protection and improved sustainability.

The table below is a basic crop program for Cauliflower Cultiva-tion:-

MAJOR PESTS AND DISEASES IN CAULIFLOWER

CUTWORM

Control: Lambda Cyhalothrin 30mls/16ltr sprayer

To page 8



SEEDCO VEGETABLES'STOMATO HYBRID

@seedcovegetables.

SeedCoVegetables ensures the best quality seed for agreat farming experience. It starts with the right seed.

To page 5

Alternative Energy to Curb Deforestation

By Dorothy Chisi

The growing rural popu-lation in most develop-ing countries, Zambia inclusive, has exerted alarming stress on

forest resources. This is mostly so because most of these rural areas rely on wood for energy, which have telling effects on climatic conditions. With the effects of climate change getting visible through droughts and

flash floods even in Zambia, organizations like Cook Stove Project, are coming up with innovations that use gliricidi-asepium twigs and not any other wood for cooking.

Cheembe Chiponde, Cook Stove Project Monitoring and Evaluation Officer, told Kulima News that farmers wishing to be part of the initiative could get in touch with the Project and be part of this environmental friendly initiative.

Apart from helping save the forests, the Cook Stove initiative helps people, especially in rural areas, to enrich their soils with the gliricidia plants. The Project encourages people to grow this tree species as it takes only two to three years to mature.

Mr. Chiponde revealed in an interview that interested farm-ers need to be in groups and be ready to grow the plants which the Project provides, and mem-bers are eligible to use the twigs for free once the trees mature.

Meanwhile, Community Markets for Conservation (COMACO), a social enterprise that supports wildlife conservation and small-scale farmers in Eastern Zambia, has revealed that it is supporting 102,000 people in alternative energy to avoid deforestation in

Nyimba, Petauke, Sinda, Katete, Chipata, MfuweChipangali, Kasenengwa, Lumezi, Lundazi, Chasefu, and Chama.

Organization Communications and Outreach Specialist, Peter Banda, said COMACO had con-structed energy efficient cook stoves that use twigs instead of big logs as firewood. The rocket cook stove burns wood more efficiently, producing less smoke and more heat, thus cooking meals quicker and avoiding over exposure to dangerous smoke. Gliricidiasepium trees are not only useful for their twigs, but also fix nitrogen in the fields of the farmers.

Mr. Banda said COMACO was also encouraging farmers to go into conservation farming by us-ing agroforestry as this was one way of promoting the growing of healthy foods as well as combat-ing climate change and restoring depleted forests. He further said COMACO was on track to grow 37 million Gliricidiasepium trees in the 2020/2021 planting season in Eastern province.

Mr. Banda said COMACO with the support of its partners CQuest,a global leader in fuel-ef-ficient cook stoves aims to reach 250,000 cook stove beneficiaries by the end of 2022.

Government Reaffirms Commitment to Combat Climate Change

By Sally Mulambya

President Edgar Chagwa Lungu says Government has fully mainstreamed climate Change in the seventh National Development Plan and other strategic national policies to ensure that it is at the center of the country’s development agenda.

In a speech read on his behalf by the Minister of National Development Planning Honor-able Alexander Chiteme at the launch of the Zambezi Live Light Festival in Livingstone, the Pres-ident emphasized that climate Change is real and one of the most pressing issues affecting socio-economic development in the country. The president however also assured that

Government is mainstreaming climate Change in the provincial and district development plans.

“We are all aware that the negative effects of climate change have contributed to the slowing down of economic growth and as Government we recognize that climate change is a developmental challenge and as such we are mainstreaming it in all development processes of the country, this is because mainstreaming is the initial step required to enable climate change take prominence in the development processes of our country,” President Lungu said.

The president said Government is working through the ministry of agriculture and fisheries and



4

AFRICAN MIGRATORY LOCUSTS INVASIONBy LAWRENCE KABUTU

Sikaunzwe Agriculture Camp of Kazungula district in Southern Province first experienced an outbreak of the deadly crop and pasture ravaging African Migra-tory Locust (AML), which was reported on 22nd April 2020 by the Camp Extension Officer.

A large swarm of locusts were observed near the Simalaha plains. The swarm of locusts was seen crossing the Livingstone-Se-sheke road from the Zambezi River to the upland parts of the plain.

Henry Lemba, a farmer from Lemba village informed the team of agricultural experts that he first noticed them in the month of March, 2020.

The migratory locusts were re-ported to be in three generations and the generation in April, 2020 was reported to be in high densi-ties of more than 100 per square meter of the nymph hoppers in all instars of development, from the first instar to the firth instar.

Adult locusts were also spotted in many places. The geographi-cal size of the affected area was estimated at 25,000 hectares.

The agricultural zones affected in 2020 included Nakatindi, Simalaha, Nakalozya and Kasaya in Sikaunzwe agriculture camp in Chief Sekute’s chiefdom in Kazun-gula District.

Kazungula Senior Agricultural Officer Tundu Kaonga says the International Red Locust Control Organization in Central and Southern Africa (IRLCO-CSA) in Ndola was informed and immediately travelled to make assessments.

Mr. Kaonga recollects that once in the affected areas the IRLCO-CSA undertook some activities that included: meeting District Commissioner for Kazu-ngula and Her Royal Highness Chief Sekute on 10th May 2020 and made aware of the IRL-CO-CSA team’s mission.

‘’The Provincial Permanent Secretary and the Senior Wildlife Warden were met on 11th May

2020 and also made aware of the IRLCO-CSA mission for the community sensitisation meet-ings,’’ says Mr. Kaonga.

He observes that the IRLCO-CSA team surveyed the eastern side of the Simalaha plain on 12th May 2020 and found a swarm of adult locusts mixed with nymphs in different instars to the adult stage.

Mr. Kaonga says spraying of AML started on 14th May 2020 using the Ultra –Low Volume (ULV) motorized sprayers to kill the deadly devastating pests.

He adds that the magnitude of the population of the AML in May 2020 was at 100 per square metre which was very high and they had capacity to spread into the entire Kazungula district, Zimba, Kalomo, Mulobezi, Mwandi and neighbouring coun-tries like Namibia and Botswana.

Mr. Kaonga avers that spot spray-ing to cut the cycle of the locusts commenced using ten field

To page 6

Ministry Of Fisheries And livestock promoting Alternative Livelihoods

By JONAS MISELO

THE Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock has urged people to engage in

alternative livelihoods such as fish farming and aquaculture in order to protect fish stocks in natural water bodies from depleting in Luapula province.

Speaking in an interview during an enforcement operation in Samfya district, Provincial Fisheries Officer for Luapula province, Masiliso Phiri said the exercise is important for allow-ing fish to breed and conserving future generations of fish.

Ms Phiri has also pointed that the Tuta bridge area is an important Ramsar site and the community has an obligation to ensure that the fish in the area

is protected.

Recently, a team of fisheries staff and security wing swung in action to monitor the level of fish ban enforcement.

The Minister of Fisheries and Livestock, Nkandu Luo imposed the fishing ban on all kinds of fishing activities on major capture fisheries in the country on 1st December 2020 during a national address and it will be effective until 28th February, 2021.

The fish ban is an annual exercise which is enforced in accordance with the Fisheries Act No. 22 of 2011 of the laws of Zambia and is meant to allow fish to breed and multiply.

5

Government Reaffirms Commitment to

Combat Climate Change

livestock in promoting climate smart Agriculture (CSA) practic-es such as minimum tillage and residue retention, agroforestry and diversification of crops and crop rotation.

He added that Government is also promoting drought resis-tant small ruminants such as goats and sheep

“We are also in support of the growing of drought tolerant crops and crop varieties includ-ing cassava, sorghum and millet in areas prone to droughts and gains are already being achieved as can be demonstrat-ed by some farmers in Eastern Province, under the Zambia Integrated Forest Landscape Project (ZIFLP),” He said.

This has seen an increased maize yield from an average of 2.2 tonnes per hectare com-pared to those not using CSA practices

President Edgar Changwa Lungu expressed happiness stating that holding the Zambezi live

light festival will raise awareness about climate change and the need for green solutions to eco-nomic challenges and also gen-erate additional revenue as well as create jobs particularly in the tourism sector which is one of the hardest hit by Covid-19

“Fighting climate Change requires all of us to put in effort and if we are to emerge victori-ous we must adopt a transfor-mative society approach where no one is left behind in ensuring that we protect our environ-ment and heal our planet,” he added.

And Zambezi Live Light Festival organizer Franco Kapijimpanga called for close collaboration of various stakeholders to ensure Zambia combats climate change and its effects.

Mr. Kapijimpanga commended President Edgar Lungu for his role in the fight against climate change.

The Zambezi Live Light Festival is expected to be held in June 2021.

From page 4

Restriction of Onions and Table Potatoes a Gain- PMRCBy Sally Mulambya

Policy Monitoring and Research Centre (PMRC) has commended the move to restrict the importation of onions

and table potatoes stating that it is in step with achieving Govern-ments aspiration of enhancing production within the agriculture sector as highlighted within the third pillar of the economic re-covery plan that aims to restore growth and diversity within the economy.

In a bid to promote consumption of local produce the Perma-nent Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture Mr. Songawayo Zyambo in a letter addressed to the Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) Commissioner General Mr. Kingsley Chanda, Restricted the importation of onions and table potatoes in Line with President Edgar Lungu’s directive to prior-itize and promote the consump-tion of locally produced fruits and vegetables.

The Ministry of Agriculture through a stakeholder consul-tation had resolved to restrict the importation of onions and table in line with President Dr. Edgar Chagwa Lungu’s directive to prioritize and promote the consumption of locally produced fruits and vegetables.

PMRC Executive Director Mrs. Bernadette Deka-Zulu said that

restricting the importation of horticultural crops particularly onions and table potatoes will promote and strengthen the horticultural value chain which has shown positive growth and potential over the years and will also promote crop diversification among small-holder farmers the majority of whom still grow maize.

“In order for farmers to fully participate and diversify into the industry, small scale farmers must form cooperatives that enable cost-sharing opportuni-ties and output market sourc-ing, there is need to consider practicing contract farming with appropriate models that can work well for the onion and po-tato industry towards reducing hunger and alleviating poverty in the economy” she said.

Mrs. Deka also sited that the

restriction will also help increase production but also impact posi-tively on the commodities value chain thereby increasing house-hold income and wealth among farmers and also enables them to achieve food security and nutrition in their households.

She added that the move will not only stabilize the balance of payments but also stimulate local production as well as gen-erate a marketable surplus of the product for distribution in chain stores and exports in foreign markets.

“There are several benefits that come with regulating imports of a particular commodity which is produced locally

Mrs. Deka said the restriction on the importation of onions and potatoes has the potential to increase job creation as the

importation of commodities tends to affect local employment even more the restriction will help prevent the introduction and spread of plant pests.

PMRC further urged Government to engage the Zambia Bureau of Standards (ZABS) to develop the scale of standards that local farmers meet in the production and distribution of onion and table potatoes to ensure that quality onions and potatoes are supplied to both domestic and international markets.

In addition PMRC recommend-ed that Government prioritizes investing in cold storage ware-houses as the commodities are perishables hence investment in these facilities will improve and prolong the shelf life of the prod-ucts which will eventually reduce unforeseen supply shortages on the market.



Isoka farmers empowered with livestock

BY PETER ZIMBA

Fisheries and Livestock Minister Professor NkanduLuo is driving Government’s developmental agenda by empowering Livestock-farmers in Isoka District of Muchinga Province.

Prof. Luorecently handed over the consignment of 1413 chickens and 150 goats to 48groups of which 50 percent where women, 30percent youths and 20percent mendrawn from all the 14wards in the District on Friday.

She cautioned the beneficiaries that this was a pass on programme underEnhanced smallholder livestock investment program (E-SLIP) with funding supportfrom International Fund for Agriculture Devel-opment (IFAD).

Prof. Luo encouraged farmers to take livestock farming as a business as it has potential to createemployment among men, women and youths.

She added that livestock development provides nutrition, food and incomesecurity at house hold level.

And speaking at the same event, Isoka District Commissioner (DC) Davis Simbulethanked Government under the leadership of His Ex-cellence Dr. Edgar ChagwaLungu for empowering Isoka community.

Mr. Simbule noted that the capital injection from Government has played asignificant role in reducing extreme poverty among the rural people.

He urged all the beneficiaries to put the livestock received to good use, so that itcan be passed on to others.

And a farmer representative Joy Silungwe from Sansamwenje agri-cultural block,thanked government for the good gesture which has come at the right time whenlivestock production is been intensified.

Cassava Off-taker Project Gives Hope to Farmers

Cassava is largely pro-duced by small scale farmers, however it’s important not just as a food crop but even

more as a major source of in-come and generates income for the largest number of house-holds as a way of empowering small scale cassava growers.

Zhongkai International limited and Chifwani Concept Project, a local initiative, signed an off-tak-er (counterparty) agreement to produce and sell cassava to Zhongaki Limited.

The project is initially targeting 1,000 small scale farmers in Northern Province, who will sell their produce to Zhongkai Ltd giving them an already available market for their produce.

Zhongkai Managing Director Chen Gui Ping said the company which is specialized in manu-facturing of biofuels is expected to receive a daily supply of 150 tonnes of dry cassava feed stock, benefiting smallholder farmers of which 50% are wom-en because of the central role they play in cassava production, processing and marketing.

Mr.Ping went on to say that the company had made progress in developing newer aggregation points and had also engaged small-scale-farmers in cassava production under the partner-ship of the Chifwani Project and Zhongkai Ltd with the super-vision of traditional leaders in Northern Zambia.

“The ultimate desired goal is to have self-reliant cassava produc-ers; we invested in Zambia after realizing that the country has the best starch in Africa, averag-ing 75-90 percent. We hope the farmers will sell as much cassava as possible because our plant can take 35,000 hectares to pro-duce 200,000 tons of starch for production of various products,” he said.

Mr. Ping said the Ethanol plant which was commissioned in Chibombo district in 2019 was benefiting cassava and maize farmers and had invested another $10 million to develop its farmer supply network and cassava production in order to

By Sally Mulambya meet an annual target of 50,000 tonnes of dry cassava chips translating into 15 million liters of finished ethanol worth $18 million per year.

The Chifwani Project seeks to scale-up cassava production in the country seeing that the agreement with the ZhongkaiIn-ternationalpledges 100 percent buy out of the cassava produced and supplied by Chifwani Con-cepts.

This engagement will be an assured and reliable source of income for small-scale farm-ers. From this collaboration, the expectation is that cassava farmers will live sustainable and improved livelihoods.

Chifwani Project Coordinator, Emmanuel Mwamba, said the partnership was due to the long

standing relationship with the company and government’s efforts towards realization of the 2017-2021, 7th National Devel-opment Plan.

“Cassava has been recognized as one of the cash crops that have potential to provide wealth to our people, and at the same time providing a means to the next staple food its’ important that our farmers venture into cassava farming because it is taking top priority even by the government,” said Mr. Mwamba.

Mr. Mwamba called on stake-holders to actively participate in the cassava value chain for climate change resilience and poverty reduction among all players. He added that women and youth cooperatives should be specifically targeted to bene-fit from growing cassava.

The agreement hopes to ulti-mately induce increased produc-tion of cassava.

Sesheke Fields in Fall Army-worm AttackBy Cheelo Muloongo

HAVING won the fight against Locusts that had threatened ag-ricultural production, Sesheke District is yet again grappling with an attack by fall army-worms.

District acting Senior Agricultural Officer (SAO), Amon Michelo-Siamalambo confirmed that all the agricultural camps were experiencing an attack by the fall armyworms.

“We have been receiving reports

from both our field officers and farmers about the presence of fall armyworms. So far, the recorded figures indicate that over 5500 hectares of fields and slightly over 3000 house-holds have been affected,”Mr. Siamalambo said.

He further noted that for this season, the damage on plants has not been as extensive because of the fortification of seeds by some seed companies as well as the favourable rainfall

To page 7



PULA Sensitises Extension Staff on Comprehensive FISP

Caption 1: Provincial Agricultural Coordinator for Central Province Dr Adreen Nansungwe addressing extension staff during the sensitisation meeting of the Comprehensive FISP insurance, while sitting is the Country Director for Pula Ms Joyce Mlewa

Caption 2:Ministry of Agriculture staff poses for a photo shortly after the sensitisation meeting on Comprehensive FISP Insurance which was held under the auspices of Pula and ZSIC-GI

By Moses Nyati

CHITAMBO farmers have not been spared from the challenges of low productivity due to the ongoing climate

change, pests and diseases that have hit the agriculture sector. To help mitigate the impact of low productivity, a consortium of

three insurance companies have partnered with Pulato provide comprehensive input insuran-ceto farmers benefiting from Farmer Input Supply Program (FISP).

Speaking recently during a FISP Insurance sensitisation meeting that was held in Chitambo for

extension staff in the Ministry of Agriculture, Pula Country Direc-tor Joyce Mlewa disclosed that her organisation has partnered with three insurance companies namely ZSIC-General Insurance, Professional Insurance and Madi-son General to provide compre-hensive input insurance to FISP beneficiary in nine provinces except for Copperbelt.

The Country Director said Pula was working with the three named local insurance compa-nies to empower smallholder farmers by providing compre-hensive input insurance that protect them from climate risks, weathers shocks and pests or diseases.

She explained that the Compre-hensive FISP insurance covered farmers that have experienced germination failure or low yield which could have been caused byeither low germination due to low rains, drought, pests, diseas-es, floods or storm.

Ms Mlewa further disclosed that government has increased the number of farmers being provid-ed with the Comprehensive FISP Insurance services by the Con-sortium from 149,915 farmers to 404,952 farmers in the 2020/21 farming season.

Ms Mlewa lauded government for the scaling upbut was quick to state that thiswas achieved throughthe provision of uncom-promised service by the Consor-tium to FISP beneficiaries in the 2019/20 farming season.

Ms Mlewa added that insurance payouts were key in stabilising household incomes during

drought and severe weather events as farmers would invest the payouts into other alterna-tive livelihood such as rearing of livestock.

Speaking at the same event, Central Provincial Agricultural Coordinator (PACO), Dr Adreen Nansungwe called on the exten-sion staff in the district to ensure farmers were well informed with regards to how comprehensive FISP insurance works.

She further called on farmers through cooperatives to invest in insurance so as to protect their crop from natural calamities.

And ZSIC-GI corporate agri-culture specialist Emmanuel Malata said the three insurance companies partnered with Pula inorder to increase the financial and technological muscles to diligently deliver according to government expectations.

Mr Malata explained that com-prehensive FISP insurance was meant to protect the monies that farmers and government spent to grow the crops under the FISP program.

Mr Malata said insurance helps to minimise the financial gap in instances of drought losses on the part of farmers and also encourages continuity in the running of FISP program by government.

Pula is an agricultural insurance and technology company that designs and delivers innovative agricultural insurance and digital products to help smallholders farmers endure climate risks and currently has presence in twelve African countries.

Scrala supports savings Among Farmers In MambweBy MATHIAS ZULU

GOVERNMENT has advised the “Savings for Change” groups in Mambwe district to take the savings

for change initiative seriously because of its benefits to rural communities.

Eastern Province Senior Com-munity Development Officer, Clara Chipoya gave the advice to the groups on Saturday January 30th 2021 during the monitoring of how the Savings for Change groups were doing in the district.

Ms Chipoya said the savings for change programme was introduced to assist small-scale farmers save and grow their

incomes in order for them to meet some of their social and economic needs.

Mambwe District has 35 Savings for Change groups under the Strengthening Climate Resilience of Agricultural livelihoods in Agro-Ecological Regions I and II in Zambia (SCRALA).

SCRALA project with support of World Food Programme(WFP) trained 35 animators in the district in the Savings for Change Initiative. The animators were picked from the three agriculture blocks in the district and these include; Masumba, Kalongo and Msoro.

The animators formed the savings groups in December, 2020 after being trained in the savings for change initiative at the Mambwe Farmers Training Centre.

According to WFP, savings for change aims to act as risk reten-tion for households to be able to save small amount and execute internal lending among group members.

The main objective of the savings for change according to WFP is to ensure financial inclusion and empowerment for youth and women through internal lending of group members.

WFP’s future plan is to see farming households participate in financial inclusion activities for investment and resilience building.

WFP is currently supporting 2071 savings for change groups in Zambia.

And Kasambandola Savings for Change GroupTrainer, Sela Beza thanked SCRALA and World Food programme for the savings for change initiative.

Ms Beza said group members were now able to get loans from their savings at a low interest rate to enable them engage in some businesses and to grow their savings.

She testified that she has bene-fitted before from saving groups.

“Before I joined a savings group, I used to live in a mud and grass thatched house. Then, I joined Silk. Before the share out, I bor-rowed some money and bought some roofing sheets for my new house,” explained Ms Sela in agreement to Charity Chipoya’s advice to the group.

Ms Sela who is also a member of two other saving groups apart from the Savings for Change SCRALA group said she even

managed to buy a bicycle from the share out from the other savings group.

And the Senior Crops Husbandry Officer, Kelvin Chinama from the Provincial Agricultural Coordina-tor’s Office said farmers maybe belong to various saving groups but that what was important was commitment and benefits from the same groups.

Mr Chinama urged members to be committed and to abide by the group’s by-laws.

SCRALA among other interven-tions such as the goat pass-on aims to assist small- scale farmers in Mambwe district to address the risks posed by cli-mate change and to strengthen resilience to climate change.

Mambwe district is one of the districts in Zambia that is often affected by either floods or prolonged dry spells because of climate change.

6

AGRIRITE ENTERPRISESIts Rain Season Again!

Plot No: 7246 Sunrise House off Lumba road, Corner of Mukatasha and KachidzaCell: 0955 784 766, 0979 491962

Email: [email protected] Suits

Rain Gear Rain Coat

Sack Sewing Machine

Safety Shoes

Polyester Cotton

White-Combed Cotton

workers under the supervision of staff from Ndola IRLCO-CSA.

‘’The aerial spray by the IRL-CO-CSA positively reduced the AML and red locust population to avert crop damage, pasture damage and change in the eco-system in the next agricultural season and vegetable produc-tion,’’ clarifies Mr. Kaonga

Since Ultra –Low Volume motorized sprays are pesticide applications against the flying adult vector. These sprays do not target the eggs, larva or pupae, only the insect on the wing, meaning that sequential appli-cations are necessary to control adults emerging from immature stages.

He says the threat posed by the AML found in Sikaunzwe agricul-ture camp in Kazungula in May 2020 was immense due to high population of nymphs at differ-ent development stages, existing adult populations and conducive breeding conditions.

Mr. Kaonga notes that conducive breading conditions resulted into the second wave of remnants of the deadly pest invading 120 hectares of Mopani Woodlands in Kazungula district in Southern Province.

Kazungula District Agricultural Coordinator Dr. Jackson Soko says the first report of the second wave of invasion by the deadly and devastating pest was on 21st January 2021.

Dr. Soko was briefing Southern Province Agricultural Coordi-nator Dr. Max Choombe and Southern Province Agricultural Officer Paul Nyambe who rushed to Kazungula for an on-spot check of the second wave of the AML invasion.

He says only 54 hectares that was highly infested was localized in Bombwe and Sikaunzwe agricultural camps that had significant infestation by the pest has been sprayed using ground motorised sprayers.

Dr. Soko notes that from the total of 54 hectares sprayed, 49 hectares was in Bombwe agricul-tural camp while 9 hectares was in Sikaunzwe agricultural camp.

He points out that if left un-checked the African Migratory Locusts can cause destruction to crop fields and pasture for livestock.

Dr. Soko notes that from the 120 hectares invaded by the pest 66

hectares was insignificant stress-ing that 54 hectares that had much infestation by the pest has been brought under control.

He told Dr. Choombe that the situation is under control as specialized staff in the ministry of agriculture is currently on the ground spraying affected areas.

Dr. Soko stresses that 1,950 litres of Chlorypyrifo insecticide was delivered from the Zambia Agri-cultural Research Institute (ZARI) at Mount Makulu in Chilanga to Kazungula to assist in controlling the second wave of the pest that was first report on 21st January 2021.

He states that aerial spraying during the second wave of infes-tation could not be used as the pest is localized around house-holds and flooded areas adding that the district still had 95 litres of the left over chemical used during the first wave of invasion.

And Southern Province Agri-cultural Coordinator Dr. Max Choombe who was in Sikaunzwe Agricultural Camp to monitor the control of the pest thanked his staff for moving in swiftly to control and contain the pest.

Dr. Choombe further paid tribute to the Food and Agriculture Organization and the Ministry of Agriculture for dispatching chemicals to combat the pest.

He further thanked the Inter-national Red Locust for sending additional 20 ground motorised sprayers to ensure that the pest in obliterated in the affected areas in Kazungula district.

‘’The team comprising the spe-cialized staff in the ministry of Agriculture have been proactive in waging a war against the African Migratory Locusts and therefore needs commendation for working tremendously well in fighting the pest,’’ says Dr. Choombe.

Dr. Choombe observes that due to flooding and distant areas where the pest has been re-ported there is need for district and camp extension officers to camp in areas affected by the AML to ensure that the pest is eradicated.

He cited Sala village in Bombwe agriculture camp that requires staff to travel 6 to 8 hours using scotch charts driven by oxen and donkeys wadding in flooded spots as the area is not accessed by vehicles.

AFRICAN MIGRATORY LOCUSTS INVASIONFrom page 4

To page 8

7

Sesheke Fields in Fall Armyworm AttackFrom page 6

distribution that the district was earlier enjoying.

“The damage has not been extensive but what worries

me is the recent dry spell we have been experiencing because it is during this time thatthese pests feed and mature. Dry spells are when there is increased damage on crops,” said Mr. Siamalambo.

Meanwhile, the SAO said that the District was expecting chemicals from the provincial agricultural office for the fight against fall army worms noting that the amount of expected chemicals was not less than 5000litres. He said that upon receipt, these chemicals would be distribut-ed to all the camps.

He further cautioned farmers not to always wait on govern-ment to give them chemicals but instead ensure that they budget for them when planning for the next farming season.

“The amount of chemicals we will receive may not be enough but it will make a huge difference in this fight. However, I wish to advise farmers to always anticipate these pests and budget for them unlike waiting for government to provide the chemicals,” Mr. Siamalambo noted.

He added that he was pleased that capacity which

will help in fighting the fall army worms was already built among farmers and of-ficers during the fight against locusts. He noted that spray-ers and masks were already in place for this campaign.

Furthermore, Sesheke District has been experi-encing an outbreak of fall armyworms for four consec-utive years.Mr. Siamalambo blamed this on both the climate and some peoplethat grow winter maize.

“If you look at South Amer-ica where fall army worms originated, you will notice that it is just as warm as here. Hence, our climate is favourable for these pests. In addition, most people that grow winter maize do not spray their fields and easily abandon them when they are highly infested by the fall armyworms. This causesthe pests to be present all year round,” he noted.

Finally, the SAO advised farmers to ensure that they scout their fields for fall army worm eggs and to destroy them once found. He said that this could greatly reduce the need for chemicals.



Locusts invade KazungulaBy Lawrence Kabutu

REMNANTS of the African Migratory Locusts have invaded 120 hectares of Mopani Wood-lands in Kazungula district in Southern Province.

Both Kazungula District Agricul-tural Coordinator Dr. Jackson Soko and Senior Agricultural Officer Tundu Kaonga con-firmed the development when Southern Province Agricultural Coordinator Dr. Max Choombe visited the invaded areas in Kazungula.

Dr Soko said only 54 hectares in Bombwe and Sikaunzwe agricul-tural camps that had significant infestation by the pest has been

sprayed using ground motorised sprayers.

And Mr.Kaonga said if left un-checked the African Migratory Locusts can cause destruction to crop fields and pasture for livestock.

He noted that from the 120 hectares invaded by the pest 66 hectares was insignificant stress-ing that 54 hectares that had much infestation by the pest has been brought under control.

Mr. Kaonga told Dr. Choombe that the situation is under control as specialised staff in the ministry of agriculture is currently on the ground spraying affected areas.

And Southern Province Agricul-tural Coordinator,Max Choombe who is in Sikaunzwe Agricultural Camp to monitor the control of the pest thanked his staff for moving in swiftly to control and contain the pest.

DrChoombe further paid tribute to the Food and Agriculture Organisation and the Ministry of Agriculture for dispatching chemicals to combat the pest.

He further paid tribute to the International Red Locust for sending additional motorised sprayers to ensure that the pest in obliterated in the affected areas in Kazungula district.

E-SAPP empowers over 3000 farmersBy Peter Zimba

Over 3,358 small scale farmers in Isoka District of Muchin-gaProvince have been empow-ered with some improved rice seed varieties and Agricultural skills through installation of rice demo plots under Enhanced Smallholder Agribusiness Pro-motion Program (E-SAPP).

Muchinga Provincial Agricultural Coordinator (PACO) Victor Mu-lopa who was accompanied by-Provincial Planning Officer (PLO) Mwaba Mwansa and Provincial Marketing Development Officer (PMDO) Francis Sakala inspected some of the demo plots in the District.

Dr. Mulopa said the project was aimed at increasing income, food and nutrition security among rural households through rice production by providing quality and better yielding seeds that are alsodrought tolerant.

He said the project had a compo-nent of value addition and trade of Agricultural commodities whose implementation started in 2019 with the creations of 40 Farming as a Business Schools(-FAABs) in Isoka District.

Meanwhile, Isoka District Agricultural Coordinator (DACO) Lameck Chola commended Government for the good effort of bringing developmental pro-

grams that are promoting new Agricultural technologies and innovations.

Mr. Chola said that the provision of quality seed and Agricultural skills to small scale farmers will help improve in the value chain and quality of rice produced in the District.

Hopson Sichalwe a farmer of chilanga Faab in Kapililonga Ag-ricultural camp of Sansamwenji block commended Government for supporting them with devel-opmental programmes which will help better their lives.

ECF OutbreakBY Chongo Mwango

East Coast Fever (ECF) has broken out in Monze district claiming more than one hundred cattle

so far.Monze Senior Livestock Of-ficer, PhiasMungaila disclosed in an interview that one Hun-dred and forty-two (142) cat-tle have died so far with 152 animals currently reported to be sick and a further 5, 183 exposed.MrMungaila said the out-break in Siakasenke, Haman-vwa and Sikabenga was due to negligence by farmers who have chosen not to dip their animals at correct intervals and have since abandoned two functional dip tanks in

the area.He appealed to the farmers to reactivate the two dip tanks in order to control the Tick Borne disease that had detrimental effects on the farmer’s well-being and the national economy.And Monze district Livestock and Fisheries Coordina-tor, TabitaShamailaDeka confirmed the outbreak saying there was a rise in the number of cattle being infected by ECF.She disclosed that the escalating figures were as a result of farmers not want-ing to dip their animals at a regular interval.Mrs. Deka said there was no need for farmers to shun dipping their animals because of the cost associ-ated to it, but that they

should consider the value of the animals that need to be protected from the disease.“Farmers most not look at the minor cost associated with dipping which is only K0.50n per animal, but they should consider the value of the animals that need to be protected,” Mrs. Deka advised.She said government through the extension staff in the district have since embarked on sensitization exercise with the farmers on the impor-tance of dipping at the cor-rect intervals to avoid risking cattle to ECF.The coordinator appealed to the farmers not to relent but to continue dipping the animals.ECF is a tick borne disease whose symptoms in-clude high temperature, loss

of appetite causing anorexia, diarrhea, anemia and nasal discharge. Government conducts ECF vaccinations every six months but some farmers have been shunning the exercise due to the cost at-tached to it.

SUPPLIERS OF Heavy Duty and portable stching Machines & spares of all types of bagscloser machines & repairing.

P. O. Box 32514CM, Lumumba RoadOpposite Handmans Paradiise,Near Mt Meru Filling Staon.

Cell: +260 977 727 191Office: +260 955 727 191email: [email protected]

WILLIAMS GENERAL DEALERS

Strategies And Opportunties In Tackling Climate Change In

ZambiaBy HAPPY MULOLANI

WHILE hybrid seed varieties are high yielding, they are not adaptable to the local environment because of climate change.

According to Head of the SADC Plant Genetic Resources Centre based in Lusaka, Justify Shava, while hybrid seed varieties are producing higher yields and are genetically uniform, they are vulnerable to the slightest shift of the environment.

“Another problem is that farmers started to neglect indigenous seed varieties which are adaptable to the local environment,” said Mr Shava.

Mr Shava said this resulted in changes in food preferences in many coun-tries, including those in Southern Africa. While people were moving away from indigenous crop varieties and no one was preserving them.

“In the end, there was a threat to the diversity that naturally existed in the crop environment. We were threatened by this lack of diversity in future breeding programmes,” he said.

Mr Shava was speaking at a recent virtual seminar on Crop Breeding for Climate Resilience in Southern Africa: Opportunities and Principles for

To page 9

From page 3

Cauliflower Production

Acetamiprid15mls/16L Sprayer

Always read label instructions as dosages may differ according to formulations and companies.

Make sure the product is system-ic as Aphids suck sap from the plants and they will be difficult to be controlled with a contact insecticide.

CONTROL:

A systemic insecticide will do well to control l

Farmers can use any available I industry products to treat aphids but with consultion from

an agronomist

Black rot is a bacterial disease found in couliflower that is very difficult to control but a farmer can use copper based fungicides or pesticides can prevent further attack on affected crops



8

Diesel-Electric Zambia Ltd, LusakaChifinga Rd, off Kalambo Rd, Light Industrial Area(Tel) 0211 229103/4, 0211 235743 [email protected]

• Hydraulic cylinder sales and repairs• Making up of hydraulic hoses to sample

Dr. Choombe also notes that reaching Mulwani village in Sikaunzwe agriculture camp re-quires staff to travel for 2 hours using scotch carts driven by donkeys to reach the area stress-ing that more time is wasted on travelling than doing the actual job of spraying against the pest.

Meanwhile, Chairman for Community Volunteers for fighting the AML in Kazungula Malambo Lemba says communi-ty members cannot be engaged and trained to fight the pest by undertaking the work of spraying in affected areas.

Mr. Lemba points out that the lethal dose of the chemical is very strong to be handled by members of the community in affected areas as it may only endanger them adding that ex-perts should always be available during spraying.

He asserts that if members of the community were allowed to do the ground spraying using motorized sprayers the chemical may find its self in water ways as most areas are flooded hence proving disastrous to people, livestock, fish and the ecosys-tem.

And one of the affected farmers Simalumba Mulwani, whose area was sprayed thanked govern-ment for quick intervention in containing the pest.

Mr. Mulwani says had govern-ment not moved in swiftly during the first and second wave of invasion pasture for livestock and crop fields could have been devastated and decimated by

AFRICAN MIGRATORY LOCUSTS INVASIONFrom page 6

the deadly ravaging pest.

He praised the ministry of agriculture for a quick response when he reported the infestation of the pest in Mulwani and Posa villages in Sikaunzwe agriculture camp.

Mr. Mulwani called on the min-istry of agriculture staff to revisit the affected areas to undertake another round of ground spray-ing as the pest may continue to breed due to conducive environ-ment.

Kazungula district farmers would have lost more than 40,000 hectares cropped area if the pest

was left unchecked. Maize loss of more than 25,000 hectares translating into 75,000 metric tonnes of maize grain loss in 2020/2021 agricultural season.

Close to 646 farm households and 3,876 people were going to be food insecure during the 2020/2021 season if the situa-tion was left unchecked.

Government, the Food and Agri-culture Organization, IRLCO-CSA and other collaborating partners need to be commended for joint collaborative effects in providing chemicals, motorized ground sprayers and resources to control and contain the ravaging pest.

9

Strategies And Opportunties In Tackling Climate Change In

ZambiaFrom page 8

Integrating Climate Model Projections,hosted under the GCRF-AFRICAP Project.

The project is implemented in four countries – Malawi, South Africa, Tanzania and Zambia – by the Food Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network (FANRPAN) in partnership with Leeds University in the UK. The Agricultural Consultative Forum (ACF) is the local partner in Zambia. The GCRF-AFRICAP’s aim is to use research to influence policy to shape decisions on agriculture and natural resources manage-ment amid the changing climate.

Leeds University Professor Stephen Whitfield emphasized on the need to build breeding varieties in Africa in order to build climate resilience, as this approach is likely to positively impact on climate change projec-tions.

Professor Whitfield also highlights that lack of timely provision of climate change information in an integrated manner is another setback to farmer communities.

“Climate change information which focuses on climate resilient vari-eties needs to be packaged in an integrated way in order to promote increased yields,” he said.

Another Leeds University Researcher, Dr Sarah Chapman argues that these challenges relating to climate change present potential oppor-tunities for developing climate analysis models. Ideally, this model will look at the variability of hybrid varieties and crop productivity and its quality. These models may have their own limitations of availability of appropriate enablers to precisely apply the information.

This poses the opportunity for breeding programmes which consider the potential opportunities for future climate analysis in Zambia. One of the Zambia Agriculture Research Stations is Mount Makulu Research station situated in Lusaka.

Zambia Agriculture Research Institute (ZARI), Chief Agricultural Officer, Dickson Nguni, asserts that the agriculture sector in Southern Africa has been adversely affected by effects of climate change such as the rise in temperatures and numerous droughts and floods thereby affecting the rainfall pattern and length of the growing season.

Dr Nguni says this situation has resulted in the agriculture systems of smallholder farmers being severely affected culminating in reduced production and productivity leading to disruption of the farmers’ livelihoods.

To address these climatic changes, ZARI and the University of Zambia has engaged in scaling up of climate-smart technologies to increase adoption and minimize negative impact on smallholder farmers’ production systems, which includes the promotion of adaptable crop varieties. This notion is supported by a seed expert at the Seed Control and Certification Institute, Chief Seeds Officer, Nathan Phiri, who underscores the significance of the Zambian seed systems as it offers vast opportunities to diversify the crop portfolio to include various seed varieties which are more crop resilient.

“Some of the crop resilient crop varieties include legumes, root and tuber crops, millets and sorghum rather than focusing only on the country’s traditional staple of maize,” explains Dr Phiri.

Dean of the School of Agricultural Sciences at the University of Zambia, Benson Chishala urges farmers to practice climate smart agricultural practices such as early planting and planting different crops to avert the effects of climate change.

Dr Chishala stressed that if farmers were practicing monoculture; they need to plant several crops which are resistant to drought.

“A mix of crops and planting early is important to avoid climate change,” he emphasized.

And an Agricultural Science expert at the University of Zambia, who is also Senior Lecturer in the Department of Plant Science, Kalaluka Munyinda, disclosed that the institution was currently developing various technologies aimed at assisting farmers cope with the effects of climate change by increasing their yields.

Dr Munyinda explained that the university had developed improved crop varieties which is tolerate to drought and heat.

“We are developing maize varieties which have high nitrogen nutrient efficiencies and high yield potential,” said Dr Munyinda.

He cited GV640 as one of the readily available climate change maize seed varieties and legumes on the Zambian market, noting that these varieties produce higher yields per hectare.

“GV640 is one variety which is high yielding and high in nitrogen nutri-ent efficiencies. If you grow these crops, you’ll reduce what we call the carbon footprint,” he explained.

Dr Munyinda revealed that these varieties record between 16 tonnes per hectare to 20 hectares. As opposed to the declining initial yields of 10 tonnes per hectare recorded prior to developing improved varieties.

The University has on-going trials of improved seed varieties which includes maize and legumes in Chirundu and Lusitu to assess their suitability and production capacities amidst climate change.

Amidst all efforts to heighten awareness of these climate smart practic-es, government needs to direct its efforts towards equipping extension staff with climate information in their daily interactions with farmers in their localities coupled with the continuous participation of seed com-panies in the provision of various seed information available through annual events like field days and seed fairs.

(AfDB) Commits US$25000 Thousand to WestfarmersBy Angela Kabamba

Western Province Minister Richard Kapita handing over assorting food stuffs, COVID-19 sanitary materials and agriculture inputs to cashew farmers in Senanga district.

The African Develop-ment Bank (AfDB) has donated US$250 ,000 (Two Hundred and Fifty Thousand

United Stated Dollars) to the Ministry of Agriculture and through the Cashew Infra-structure Development Project (CIDP) to all the districts of Western Province in a bid to reduce the impact of COVID-19 pandemic.

Western Province Minister Richard Kapita disclosed this in Senanga district when he pre-sented the donated assorted items to the cashew farmers at the District Administration.

Among the items donat-ed include disposable face masks x 50=7, hand sanitisers x400/70mls 79, medical soap x 175g =500, disinfectants x 500mls 250, disposable gloves x 100, washing paste x 200g 200, dish washing paste x 200g 200, and food items such as 25kg bags of mealie meal= 100, sugarx1kg 100, cooking oil x 750ml 100, salt x1kg 100, and agriculture inputs which included D/ compound and Urea fertilisers in 10 kg bags, boots for farmers and assorted vegetable seeds.

Mr. Kapita emphasised that it is hoped the donation will go to the intended purpose, and not land in wrong hands where peo-ple will start selling the donated items meant for the farmers and vulnerable groups.

The Minister also urged the recipients to put the goods for the intended purpose, so as to reduce the impact of COVID-19, adding that government’s desire

is to ensure that none of the people starve or die from the disease.

Mr. Kapita urged farmers in the Province to continue sensitising others and follow the Ministry of Health safety guidelines.

Meanwhile, District Agricultural Coordinator (DACO) Mukelabai Mwangala has thanked the Af-rican Development Bank (AfDB)

for the gesture made, adding that the food stuffs and agricul-ture inputs given to the farmers in the district will help them be food secure as well as protected from COVID-19.

And a Senanga farmer Doro-thy Samba Makina, thanked government for the effort made, as it came unexpectedly and will go a long way in helping many farmers in the district.



PROGRAM : THE PEOPLE’S DEBATE

DAYSMONDAY/WEDNESDAY& Friday.

TIME10:15 - 12:00Hrs.

PROGRAM : NEWS FEEDBACK

DAYSEVERY SUNDAY.

TIME18:00 - 19:30Hrs.

Marketing Department - 0955/0977 207038Pan African Radio 96.1fm.

“The Voice Of Africa”

PANAFRICANR A D I O

96.1FM

Farmers Barn Limited

Plot 52 Chiparamba Road,

P. O Box 37254 Lusaka.

Telefax: 0211-225352

E-mail: [email protected]

Mumbwa Road BranchNext to Capital HotelPlot No. 38567Cell: +260 953 077011

Agriculture & Horticulture chemicals, Veterinary Products. Agricultural and Hand tools, Protective Equipment

Fumigation, All types of Seed, Seedlings, Distributors of Bayer Dekalb Hybrid Maize Seed in Zambia

Lack of Agriculture Knowledge Worries Mambwe DACOBy Mathias Zulu

The Ministry of Agri-culture has observed with great concern that Small Scale Farmers in Mamb-

we District were not aware of what agricultural activi-ties take place at Masumba Technology Assessment Site in the district and has since urged the Officer In-Charge

at the site to start conducting field days in order to educate farmers about the agricultural assessment site.

Mambwe District Agriculture Coordinator, Kennedy Kaputo made the observation when he visited the Technical Assess-ment site during his routine monitoring of activities in the district on Monday, February 7, 2021.

Mr. Kaputo who was accompa-nied by the Extension Method-ologist Officer-Charles Bwemb-ya and Acting Crops Husbandry Officer, Lucy Daka said he was concerned that despite a lot of agricultural activities taking place at the site the communi-ty was not aware.

He said it was important that the community especially farmers and the traditional

leadership of Masumba area in which the site is situated were well informed about the activities at the site.

Mr. Kaputo said despite the covid-19 pandemic the site could organize field while observing the covid-19 health guidelines as prescribed by health authorities so that the community could be educated activities taking place at the

site.

He advised the officer in charge to start preparing for the field day by looking at the numbers of farmers that could be invited.

“Let us start planning now in terms of the numbers of farmers whom we can invite. So that we know when we start looking at resources how much will be needed. We can do for two hours so that you can explain the way you have explained to us so that that in-formation goes to the farmers” advised Mr. Kaputo.

Masumba Technology As-sessment Site is an extension of Msekera Research Station where trials to assess new seed varieties are conducted before releasing them on the market for farmers to access them.

The institute which is the only Technology Assessment Site in Zambia is used by various orga-nizations and seed companies in Zambia

In the 2020/2021 agriculture season, the Cotton Develop-ment Trust CDT) from Magoye research Station in Southern Province, Seed Control and Certification Institute (SCCI), AfriSeed, Food Legumes and Food Agriculture Organization (FAO) sponsored Plant Digital Climate Change Adaptation Project spearheaded by Zambia Agriculture Research Institute (ZARI)-Kabwe and APSA had trials on the performance

of various seed varieties in Mambwe.

TAS acting officer in charge, Amos Daka explained that FAO sponsored Plant Digital Climate Adaptation Project was conducting some assessment on maize varieties already on the market to assess their performance in relation to the change in climatic conditions.

Mr. Daka said the objective of the PDCLA project was to assess how some seed varieties that were already on the mar-ket would perform in Mambwe in light of the climate change being experienced.

He said the assessment would also confirm or dispel farmers’ belief that only PAN53 does well in Mambwe.

“Some farmers say, this variety does better than this one, but what about these other variet-ies? What can we tell farmers? Is this just theory or we prac-tice this, they see for them-selves?” explained Mr. Daka by way of asking questions.

Mr. Daka said the released varieties on assessment were subjected to same conditions and planted at the same time both at the site and on farm.

He also explained that ground-nuts were also being assessed for rosette.



10

Easy, efficient and hygienic solar drying solutions.

Made to order.

7221 KACHIDZA ROAD

LIGHT INDUSTRIAL AREA LUSAKA+260977888466 +260976792803

Harness energy from the sun to preserve your fruitand veg all year long!

11

ZATP Approves K367, 432 for Two Coopera-tives

BY HLUPEKILE NDHLOVU

The Zambia Agri Trade Project under the Ministry of Commerce Trade and Industry (ZATP) has approved

funding grants for two coopera-tives in Kitwe district of Copper-belt Province.

ZATP Copperbelt Province coor-dinator Emmy Kaluba said two cooperatives in Kitwe namely Tulima Multipurpose Cooper-ative in Mufuchani agriculture camp and Tusole Women Multi-purpose Cooperative in Maposa have had their grants approved for funding.

Mrs.Kaluba explained that Tulima multipurpose cooperative who are specialized in fish farm-ing will receive a grant of K227, 423.28 from the project while Tusole Women multipurpose cooperative who specialize in vil-lage chicken farming will receive K140, 000 from the project.

She said that the project is cur-rently processing the grants for the cooperatives and will in the coming few weeks call the coop-eratives to receive their grants.

Additionally she called on all registered cooperatives dealing in agriculture on the Copperbelt to apply for grants through her office.

And Tusole women cooperative chairperson Judith Simwanza expressed gratitude for the grant approval by the project.

Mrs. Mwanza said the cooper-ative intends to build more chick-en runs and equipments needed in the poultry houses.

She explained that currently, the cooperative only has local village chicken breed but with the coming of the grant, they intend to improve on the breed of the village chickens and get better breeds like Black Astrolops which grow faster than local village breed.

Poor Nutrition Levels upsetting-Isoka DAO

By Peter Zimba

District Administration in Isoka District of Muchinga Province is concerned with high stunt-ing levels among under five children.

Isoka District Administrative Officer (DAO) Mulenga Yamishi said stunting levels in the district were currently at 23 per cent the situation he described as a time bomb.

Mr. Yamishi however said Gov-ernment through Scaling up Nu-trition (SUN) project has formed 12 Ward Nutrition Coordinating Committees (WNCC) to spear-head nutrition activities at ward level throughout the district in a multi-sectoral approach to address malnutrition.

Mr. Yamishi said the program been sponsored by UNICEF is

aimed at looking at nutrition ac-tivities especially the most 1000 critical days of a child which are calculated from conception until the child turns 2years from birth.

He said the program will also address all nutritional challenges especially stunting levels among others in the rural households.

Mr. Yamishi revealed to National Agricultural information services (NAIS) in an interview yesterday that district nutrition coordinat-ing committee (DNCC ) is on the ground to coordinate the same activities on district level.

Mr. Yamishi has commended government for bringing such developmental programs to the district that are aimed at improv-ing the health and well-being of the people in Isoka.



* Complete Bathroom Refurbishing* Antique Victorian Baths Restored* Colour Combinations of Your Choice* 5 Year Guarantee on Refurbished Works

Tel: +260 211 287311 / 0977 888466 / 0976 792803Plot 7221 Kachidza Road, Light Industrial Area, Lusaka

GIVE YOUR BATHROOM

Terms & Conditions Apply

A FRESH NEW LOOK!

10% DISCOUNT FOR HOMEOWNERSWITH THIS ADVERT

Each Franchise works under license to Mend a Bath International (pty) Ltd.Operating Worldwide

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Over Sowing The Rangelands - A Success Story From KateteBy NATASHA MHANGO

In view of climate change, the role that rangelands play in maintaining biodiversity and reducing poverty cannot be ignored because they form

the basis of agricultural develop-ment and food security along-side enhancing the ecological balance of their environments.

Unfortunately much of Zambia’s rangelands are being depleted mainly due to human activity. For smallholder livestock farmers, this has translated into limited grazing land for their livestock and consequently diminishing nutrition levels most especially during the 7 month dry period of May to November.

Rangeland management is therefore one necessary form of action that is aiding smallholder livestock farmers to improve the nutrition of their livestock during the challenging dry period. This endeavor has involved the establishment of communal grazing systems through which surrounding communities own and operate sizeable rangelands with a view to improve how they are used by the community while also providing grazing land for their livestock.

In Bombwe area of Katete district, smallholder livestock farmers are actively working to establish a sustainable communal grazing system through which they believe they will improve the nutrition and consequently the value of their livestock.

Tayo Phiri is a smallholder livestock farmer in the area. He explained that livestock farmers in Bombwe area began to no-ticefrom their available markets, that the value of their livestock depended on the quality of their

livestock.As such, Bombwe com-munity gradually accepted the fact that, among other important health interventions, improving the quality of their livestock re-quired proactive efforts towards providing good animal nutrition all year round.

However, like other parts of the country, the natural veld of Katete district has been depleted and so farmers were compelled to find solutions to this predica-ment.

Tayo explained that it was from that standpoint that the commu-nity formed Bombwe Communal Rangeland as one way through

which farmers could learn how to manage their land sustainably.

“We first raised concerns about our livestock nutrition to the District Fisheries and Livestock offices and then we proceeded to request for land from our chief for us to establish a rangeland so that our livestock could have nutritious grazing land during the dry seasons,” Tayo said.

Bombwe Communal Rangeland is one of similar initiatives that the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock - through its Enhanced Smallholder Livestock Investment Programme (E-SLIP) - has sup-ported in a bid to promote sus-tainable livestock food resources.

Tayo said explained that through E-SLIP, farmers were sensitized on the importance of rangeland management and general natural

resource conservation.

Delecina Banda is a member of Bombwe Communal Rangeland group and she said that from the activities being conducted on communal rangeland, farmers were gradually appreciating the need to revamp their existing rangeland as one way of creating affordable livestock nutrition.

“I was motivated to join [Bombwe Communal Rangeland] group be-cause I am a livestock farmer and would like to improve the quality of my livestock,” Delecina said.

Delecina owns cattle, pigs, goats and chickens. She is a 67 year

old single mother who jokes that she also takes care of “human livestock” in form of her eleven children whom she fends for through her farming activities.As such she is keen on ensuring that she learns what she can to improve her livestock manage-ment skills.

Kafumbwe Veterinary Assistant, Geophrey Hamoonoga, is an Extension Officer whose work area includes the community of Bombwe. He explained that lack of sufficient grazing land for live-stock has been a result of human activity which the community is now attending to.

“Looking at the set-up of Katete, the natural veld were being encroached by cultivation fields and gardens;and as such it reduced the grazing lands for the livestock …it came to the point

where animals now have got very limited grazingveld and you can even tell from the body scores of animals. It’s only in the rainy season when you can see animals looking [healthy] but when it is during the dry season, the body scores are very poor,” Geophrey explained.

“So to supplement animal feeds, we’ve always been training [farm-ers] to be preserving post-harvest materials like maize stovers and sunflower cakes so that they can supplement their animals as they come from the natural veld grazing,” he added.

However, more efforts were needed. E-SLIP not only empowered farmers with training but also provided Bombwe Com-munal Range-land group with

seed to reinforce already existing pastures by sowing beyond the marginal lines – technically referred to as over sowing.

“We’ve planted Dolichos lablab and sunhemp…Looking at the soils we have available…and also their nutritive values that’s what made them our pasture of choice,”Geophrey added.

One notable success of this initiative is that some farmers are beginning to adopt what their learning from the rangeland into their own fields.

Delecina is among such farm-ers. She said that she has since planted a kilogramme of velvet beans and kilogram sunhemp on her own farm.

“What we do at the communal rangeland site to me is just a

demo. So I decided to start repli-cating what I was learning to my own field so that my animals will have easier access to food and won’t stray far from my farm in search of grazing land,” Delecina said.

Through Bombwe Communal Rangeland, farmers are sensitiz-ing their communities on how the success of their farming

activities depends on the efficient use of their natural resources. In this way, the group believes that their efforts in over sowing their rangelands will have lasting and positive impact.

Kafubwe veterinary assistant, Geophrey Hamoonga (in Blue Overalls) having a brief training session with farmer of Bombwe Communal Rangeland

“We first raised concerns about our livestock nutrition to the District Fisheries and Livestock offices and then we proceeded to request for land from our chief for us to establish a range-land so that our livestock could have nutritious grazing land during the dry seasons,”

Woodgate House 2nd Floor, Room 208 Cairo Road Luaska.Tell: +260 211 23 99 38, Cell: 096 4001116, 095 0895120

[email protected]



Disclaimer: the information published on this page is from the Facebook group Small Scale Farmers- Farming as a Business. All the opinions published are by the group participants and do not reflect the opinion of Agricoop newspaper or the SSF admins.

MatangaMi-yanda wrote ………………………The top 10 things I have learnt amount maize pro-duction by spending time with Agronomists:

1. The choice of land preparation matters. Ploughing does more harm than good(this one I learnt from Sebastian Scott a few years back)

2. There other basal fer-tilizers other compound D which performs much better than D in maize production.

3. Plant spacing matters when it comes to attain-ing high yields.

4. Organic matter in the soil plays a big part in providing nutrients to your plants and protect-ing your soil. Manure, compost etc use it(the Agronomists re-iterated the knowledge passed down to me from my ancestors)

5. Soil testing and liming your yields is an often ignored activity which is basically the difference

between high yield and poor yield.

6. There is an element called Boron which is essential for the growth or should I say fruiting/cobbing of your plants.

7. You can achieve better yields on small fields with good manage-ment practices than on large fields with limited knowledge and trying to stretch resources. The question you should be asking is: what is good management?

8. Not all maize varieties are equal. When you buy seed, ask for details about what you are getting. Trust me there is a reason each variety ex-ists,e.g SC 647 pictured below does very well in acidic soils among other things.

9. Maize does get affected

by diseases and nutrient deficiencies: it is best to learn about the com-mon ones and ensure to find out what your seed is resistant to or has a high tolerance for. I was given a quick picture guide which I keep on my phone for reference. Your seed company should do the same for you.

10. To reduce the risk of leaching and its effects on the crop, you can consider applying top dressing to your crop at two different stag-es instead of the one application which we are accustomed to.

11. The Agronomist should be your friend if you re-ally want to learn about maize production to improve yields.

More Explanation on Land LawsDear Editor

Please advice I have been told that it is not allowed to block access to a farm when the access road is on someone else’s land. Is that a written law or a custom?

The part of the road to my farm which is on someone else’s land is in terrible condition and almost impossible to pass. Do I have the right to fix it (even just dropping gravel) or should I ask the land owner to fix it? I have asked the land owner if I can put down gravel but no reply.

How do I improve access and become a good neighbor?

Lynne Mendelson

Lusaka

12

What crops are highly sought afterHello fellow Farmers! From your observation according to your localities, How does it look in terms of yieds for crops like, soy beans, groundnuts and sugar beans? Do we have more Farmers who have grown this crop than last year? Or as a farmer have you increased from were you ended last year.Because these crops were highly sought after last year and from my own observation, with reference to persons and companies that have reached out so far. It’s seems these crops will have alot of market this year!!

Innocent chidondaLusaka

13

Alex ChoompoCell: [email protected]

EDITORIAL

The Conservation of Fish and Fisheries in Zambia

Fish and Fishery conser-vation is the protection of fish species and its’ industry found in nature. It requires sen-

sible use of fish and Fisheries resources: fish, water, soil, minerals, wildlife and plant matter.

A typical example of the term conservation, being an attempt to minimize the amount of elec-tricity by a parent turning off lights when you leave the room. You don’t want to stay in the dark halfway to the due date of your payday, moreover, your productivity on your phone and laptop is dependent on electric energy.

Patriotic individuals care about

conservation; they try to pre-serve the Fish and Fishery indus-try altogether, so they will still be around in the future. Negative traditional and political interests, parallel ambitions and inter-ferences never hinder the aim and objectives of pure conser-vationists, they are determined to save and protect resources for continuous access of natural food, employment and income, for generations to come.

Throughout the just ended de-cade, Zambia’s fishery program has continued to exhibit weak conservation efforts, enforce-ment to curb illegal fishing equipment, fishing methods and restricted areas and timelines are not observed as it should. There is lack of regular monitor-

ing and surveillance effort of Fishery stocks in the rivers and lakes. Local leadership in some areas of fishing does not partic-ipate in conservation and does not fully understand the estab-lished legal means of fishing and fishery conservation.

Devastating and disturbing news from the patrols of the just end-ed fishing ban period shows that fishing does not come to a stand still during the period of conser-vation. It is of news that, Fishers and fish were been caught and uncovered in large numbers and quantities.

On the lakes of Itezhi Tezhi, Lake Lusiwasi of Serenje and the Lukanga swamps of Kapiri and Kabwe. A recorded number

of fish and perpetrators were uncovered during the process of law enforcement in the areas.

It appears with actual facts that, fishers take advantage of the absence of Fisheries officers on rivers and designated water bodies.

Fishers have not understood the onus of conservation as a direct responsibility on their part.

With impunity, fishers go out fishing, knowing too well that enforcement agents do not have the logistical and material capac-ity to reach out for contravening fishers. This should not be the core factor, in progressing a failed conservation program.

We ought to know and underst and that, producing and provid-ing food of lesser quality to an individual will produce offspring of lesser quality than ourselves, therefore conservation ensures that the future is able to access organically produced food. We mean the type of food that is produced green and healthy.

Isn’t it a crime against humanity to knowingly reduce the quality of future human generations?



EDITORIAL

Woodgate House 2nd Floor, Room 208 Cairo Road Luaska.Tell: +260 211 23 99 38, 095 0895120

E:[email protected], W:www.agricoopnewspaper.com

Do farmers have the Capacity to meet demand?

Given the recent restrictions by the Zambian govern-ment on the importation of onions and potatoes will definitely help improve the sector. Food is a need and thus it is consistently pur-chased around the world. However, things become complex when a country is competing with foreign players who might have more resources and tenders with various purchasing outlets.

The ban will ensure that money that is to be spent on such commodities stays in the country rather than sending it off to another country in order to buy products from there and bring them to our country which in terms of gains is a loss on the countries part.

Farmers in Zambia now have an inexcusable op-portunity to produce or otherwise perform because the platform they have been crying for has been given to them. Outlets such as ShopRite and food lovers amongst others will have to engage local farmers if they are to have their shelves stocked. The question of pricing and who sets the price would be another hur-dle to jump over. We would hope that government has started implementing such policies so as to guarantee fairness across the board.

The indigenous popula-tion only have the option to buy from local farmers which increases the money making a hundredfold. We believe this is a good and bold move by the govern-

ment however, as with many things in life with each level there come’s new challenges.

Onions take a period of seven months to grow and potatoes take a period of 3 months to grow. These products have yearly win-dows in which they should be grown e.g. potatoes

don’t do well in the rainy season. The question also remains to the farmers who are the massive beneficia-ries of this new Government policy. Do they have the capacity and if not what are they going to do to increase the capacity?

It could be arguable that issues of capacity are not a

problem because of the sig-nificant number of farmers our nation has to offer, we would not dispute that how-ever as history has come to show those not on the side of technological advance-ments tend to be left out thus one might hope the Zambian farmer does much to improve production of the said commodity.

The two fears are one, farm-ers abandon other com-modities just because of the monetary gain in the said crops, two the unknown foreign players purchase land here in Zambia under false pretenses and bring their technology here so as to gain the upper ground and regain the market.

In all these fears we won-der if we even have a possible policy to prevent

such situations this being a liberal economy. However, they would threaten the intended progress of the very government policy. We urge government to look at both sides of the coin and implement defensive strat-egies to protect their policy so that we are not left were we started to begin with. We suggest the govern-ment begins to bring about sensitization programs that would help the local farmer enhance their performance to begin with so as to give them the unparalleled capacity to dominate the Market and become ever thus efficient and improve on quality.

Singelengele said the award of the certificate of conformity signifies government’s commitment to ensuring that there is inclusion of refugees towards everything that it is implementing.Mr. Singelengele congratulated the cooperative for the certificate say-ing the certification will enable the cooperative to market its products very well within the province and the nation at large.He however said the cooperative faces a number of challenges.“With regards to rice production here, the challenge that we are facing is the power that we use…it is diesel powered, as a result, hours of production are reduced. We had Rural Electrification Authority (REA) assess the area for possible connection sometime back and we are hoping they get back soon to electrify Meheba,” Mr. Singelengele said.He said there are many people who like the Meheba rice but producers are unable to meet the demand due to lack of electricity in the area.Meanwhile, Kalota agricultural cooperative chairperson, Joseph Kabala expressed happiness at the award of the certification to the cooperative.“We are happy with what ZABS has done. The certification will help us to supply to supermarkets,” Mr. Kabala said.He advised other cooperatives to work hard so that they can be sup-ported by ZABS to help scale up their businesses.

ZABS Certifies Meheba Rice

From page 14

Zambeef Partners with Government to Beef up covid-19 FightBy Sally MulambyaZambeef Products has yet again put its corporate weight behind efforts to ensure the safety of learners, the largest integrated

cold chain food products and Agribusiness Company in Zambia donated hand sanitizers, hand wash stations and face masks to ensure the safety of learners and teachers in 2021 academic year.

“Schools are an integral part of our society, therefore, they rep-resent an important front in the country’s war against COVID-19this outbreak is unprecedent-ed and affects every aspect of

our lives including how we inter-act and deliver education.” said Zambeef Chief Executive Officer Walter Roodt.

Mr. Roodt divulged that the benefits and spill-over effects of education to the communities were enormous in that they would increase a child’s pros-pects, giving them a fighting chance against poverty. He added that it was imperative to plough on with deliberate and cautious action to ensure learning contin-ued despite the pandemic.

Zambeef Marketing and Corpo-rate Affairs Manager Chishala-Malekano explained that the company has firm belief that con-certed and sustained efforts from all will prove critical in ensuring a safe environment for Zambia’s learners.

“We believe that strict adherence to safety guidelines from the Min-istry of Health is key to keeping

our teachers and learners safe as they return to school,” he added.

Zambeef has been playing an active role in augmenting local authorities’ capacity to fight the spread of COVID-19 in its areas of operation through the do-nation of items including hand wash stations, hand sanitisers and facemasks.

Beneficiaries of the donation included MupamaPamo Primary, Liteta Primary and Mwayasunka Secondary School, as well as the Zambeef-sponsored Nampamba Private School in Mpongwe.

Mwayasunka Basic School is the largest learning institution within a 10-kilometre radius from Huntley Farm which serves an ever-growing population of learners in and around Chibom-bo.

Nampamba Private School in

Mpongwe which is fully funded by Zambeef is equipped with a com-puter lab to facilitate Information Communication Technology ex-ams. It is also one of the few rural schools with waterborne toilets.

School head teacher Boas Wasuka thanked Zambeef for its continued support, saying that the company had demonstrated the value it places on children through its actions.

“Zambeef appreciates the Zambi-an child, and is adding value not only in terms of crop production but also in educating our chil-dren,” said Mr. Wasuka.

The school has gone further to incorporate COVID-19 awareness programmes into its daily lesson plans, with teachers starting and ending their classes with virus-re-lated activities such as poems and songs.

Mr. Wasuka urged pupils to strictly follow the COVID-19 prevention guidelines, saying it was the only way the fight against the virus could be won.

Zambeef has always demonstrat-ed unwavering commitment in its support for rural education particularly in areas in which it operates.

Its investment over the years in-cludes construction of classroom blocks and teachers’ houses as well as donation of educational materials to schools in remote areas.

Working with the Ministry of General Education, the company has also helped provide qualified teaching personnel to several schools as a way of improving the quality in far flung areas.



14

47B

UPGRADE PERFORMANCE. TOP YIELDS. CUT COST.UPGRADE PERFORMANCE. TOP YIELDS. CUT COST.

LSK - MALAMBO ROAD

LSK H.O -Plot sub v / farm 403a Lilayi road Lilayi P.O.Box 31980 Lusaka

+260 967 640 126

feedsales nmc.co.zm@

+260 961 580 785

BROILER FEEDS DAIRY FEEDS PIG FEEDS FISH FEEDS PULLET FEEDS LAYER FEEDS DAY OLD CHICK AGENTS

Malambo Kabwata Showgrounds Chelstone Kalingalinga Chilenje Makeni Westgate Matero Zani Muone Zingalume Chilanga Libala South

Eastern Western Central Southern Copperbelt Northern Provinces

DOC Shortage Hits Poultry IndustryBy Penjani Nzima

A CRITICAL shortage of broiler Day-Old Chicks (DOC) has hit the poultry industry forcing thepoul-try farmers to visit the retailers’ shops in the wee hours of the morning just to try and buy the chicks, Agri - Coop Newspaper-has established.

This situation is not good espe-cially on the side of the poultry farmers who are making huge losses on income because of the wide gap that is involved in between rearing their chickens.

The chicken traders on the other hand have not been spared. They are going through a hard time in accessing the chickens for reselling resulting in massive losses of business on their part.

“It’s not a good situation that we are experiencing at the moment because even when we make orders, it takes more than three weeks for the chicks to be de-livered,” lamented one poultry farmer from Chilanga.

Many poultry farmers spoken to by this reporter have confirmed of the day-old chicks shortage on the market and have added that it was very difficult to do their business effectively.

“Day-old chicks are in short supply. I have been frequently to the suppliers’ shop for the past weeks but to no avail,” said Anthony Sakala a poultry farmer based in IteziTezhi.

As if that is not enough, both the poultry farmers and the traders are living in fear of their businesses that they will collapse because it is not easy to keep money without investing it.

The rearing of chickens has been widely exploited by many Zambians in the recent past due to its perceived nature of being a lucratively fast income generat-ing venture. This has resulted in a greater demand for day-old chicks recently.

And Poultry Association of Zambia (PAZ) President, Veronica

Machungwa, has confirmed that the shortage of day-old chicks is here but described it as temporal hoping that the situation will normalize shortly.

She disclosed that it’s a normal trend in this country for the poultry business to dwindleat the beginning of the year due to low demand of the day-old chicks but this has not been the case this year.

The producers did not expect the demand for the day-old chicks to remain higheven at the begin-ning of the year as has been the case for the previous years but this year the demand circle has outstripped the supply she added.

“There is a shortage of day-old chicks because the producers didn’t expect the demand to remain the same during the beginning of the year.

“They were expecting that normally at the beginning of the year demand goes down so they figured that what they had left would be enough to cover the demand but the demand circle has not changed.People’s demand for the day-old chicks has increased and because they reduced on their stock that’s what has caused the shortage,” she explained.

Asked as to what the impact of the day of chick’s shortage will be on the poultry industry, Mrs. Machungwa said the shortage may result in a price increase of the chickens due to the law of supply and demand being at play.

“It simply means that it may result in a price increase because of the demand being higher than the supply. There is also a prob-lem the producers can’t import from abroad because there is a disease the Avian influenza so they cannot import. It’s a short-age that we may experience for a while until that situation changes,” she added.

Mrs. Machungwa has since called on the poultry farmers to be resilient and also learn how to involve their family members in the running of their business-es if they are to record some reasonable profit margins.

“This is the time to be resilient

ZABS Certifies Meheba Ricequality mark, so that consumers can see that an independent board has certified the product and given the quality mark,” he said.He pointed out that Zambia must be able to demonstrate that prod-ucts are complying with national standards, more especially after the country agreed to the Africa Continental Free Trade Area.“As a country, we should be able to demonstrate that the products are complying with national standards. As you know, Zambia has assented to the Africa Continental Free Trade Area which means that we should talk quality even at the low-est level because that is the only way Zambian products are going to go into the African continental markets,” Mr. Mutale said.He has since advised other coop-eratives to take a leaf from what Kalota agricultural cooperative has achieved.And Caritas Czech Republic Project Coordinator, Bwalya Kampamba said his institution helped the cooperative with the polishing and grading machines to help in the production process.Mr. Kampamba said the coopera-tive procures rice from farmers and processes it before packaging.“The cooperative offers rice polish-ing services to the community…the fees help the cooperative to man-age the daily operations of the rice processing centre,” he said.Mr. Kampamba added that the processing centre has the capacity to produce 1,200 kilogrammes of rice per hour.Speaking at the same event, Meheba Refugee Officer, Castrol

From back page

To page 19

15

Construction of US$700,000 soil laboratory on courseBy GLORIA SIWISHA

CONSTRUCTION of the state-of-the-art soil testing laboratory at Zambia Agriculture Research Institute at Msekera Research Station in Chipata district is progressing well.

The US$700,000 dollars’ worth project is being spearheaded by the Zambia Integrated Forest Landscape Project (ZIFLP), a Zambian Government initiative which is being implemented in all 14 districts of Eastern Province with the support of the World Bank.

ZARI programmes officer Kenne-dy Kanenga said in an inter-view that once completed, the infrastructure would enhance the research capacity of Msekera research station especially in soil testing and plant analysis, and

also lessen blanket application of fertilisers to soils in the region.

He said, previously, the research station was using analogue methods to collect soil data and analyse the nutrient status of plants, but that this technique was usually more expensive and also not very precise in terms of giving results.

Mr Kanenga said with the com-ing in of the state-of-the-art soil testing laboratory, the research station would now be able to give very specific recommen-dations in terms of status of soils and plant nutrients adding that this would also increase the efficiency of productivity of smallholder farmers.

“We are transitioning from analogue to the digital method of collecting soil data and plant analysis. The advantage of this

is that it is rapid testing which would give you results promptly and also in terms of monitoring the soil fertility and plant nutri-ents,” he said, “Right now we already have done the digitised soil map for Eastern Province and this is a step forward in terms of being very precise…what will come out of this is not a blanket recommendation which we have been using for 50 years, but it will be a specific recommendation for fertilizer depending on the test.”

Mr Kanenga emphasised that soils needed to be well taken care of if they were to offer meaningful benefits to crop producers.

“Under agriculture, the most important thing we have are our soils and we know that our soils over time, because of degrada-tion and also long term culti-

vation, have lost their fertility and are eroded and therefore…we need to look after them be-cause if farmers have rich soils, it means their bank accounts will also be healthy,” he said.

And Investcorp Zambia Limited, the contractor engaged to construct the soil testing labo-ratory, promised to complete the works within the stipulated period of 8 months.

“Currently we are half way through the project…the project is 8 months and we expect to fin-ish in good time as we are above schedule as we speak,” said Sam Simfukwe, who is project site engineer.

ZIFLP, the project which is spear-heading the construction of the soil testing laboratory, is a US$ 32.8 million dollars Govern-ment initiative which is being

implemented in all the districts of Eastern Province from 2018 to 2022.

The ultimate goal of the project, is to reduce carbon emissions from land use by promoting sus-tainable agricultural practices, improving rural livelihoods, and protecting natural resources.



Resilience key in running a Business

By Sally Mulambya

Agripreneurs are now only realizing the value addition in agriculture but despite the positive

response, with most people venturing into agribusiness in hopes of making huge returns, the journey to being a success-ful farmer has its own challeng-es and requires effort, dedica-tion and time.

Marvin Brown Kakomwe a Zambian entrepreneur founder of the SeasoilsAgro Processing

Company that manufactures Karvin sesame hair oil, hair food and body butter explained how he has managed to run his com-pany despite negative effects of climate change, which has resulted in floods and lead to less production of the crop.

Although receiving positive feed-back for the sesame products. Mr. Kakomwe explained that production has not been easy because the company relies on hot pressed sesame oil which it imports from India and was very expensive as sourcing for machinery that can be used to

press the oil is difficult.

“Resilience is what has pushed us in the wake of covid-19 even more climate change but despite being hit we still manage to make it through,It has been difficult to source for the sesame cold pressed oil because compa-nies with the machinery that is used to press sesame seeds to produce oil are complaining that their shafts break or go blunt because sesame seeds are small so that’s one of the challenges we have,” he said.

However he reveals that the

major reason why his company is still operational is because of his full involvement in the produc-tion process from manufacturing to packaging, to ensure the sup-ply of the end products contin-ues and that’s the management style he followed since inception.

Mr. Kakomwe states that for every business to succeed it is cardinal that the manager or owner is fully invested.

“When it comes to our out-grow-er farmers we go out there to teach them the basics, such as how to grow the product and manage it but if we find those that have been growing sesame for some time that’s a plus on our end, so we have who we call contact farmers CF and Adopter Farmers AF, the contact farmer adopts farmers who can grow or are willing to grow and the adopter farmers selects those to include on the out-grower scheme,” he said.

He added that although the company uses chain stores like Melisa Super Market and some individual agents the company still needs more agents to mar-ket its’ products, he however, noted that Chemists and phar-macies could be the best target market but getting them on board was pretty cumbersome.

Mr.Brown disclosed that the company intends to make

machinery to press sesame seeds and aside from having cold pressed sesame oil the company intended to venture in the pro-duction of raw organic sunflower oil because the country currently does not have organic sunflower oil.

The company also intends to formulate animal feed using the sesame seed cake that remains once the seeds are cold pressed. However, lack of financial muscle continues to delay these projects.

“We do not want to continue the trend of buying outside because we want to promote local products, what we intend to do is go green and produce our own sunflower oil because the one that the country current-ly imports from SA is refined and does not contain all Amino acids, so we thought of having our own Zambian organic cold pressed oil because its healthier although it can not be used for deep frying rather salad dressing,” he said.

Mr. Marvin urged that his com-pany is willing to partner and called on fellow farmers willing to partner to jump on board to grow the sesame industry he also advised farmers to consider doing market research before venturing into growing particular crops and takes advantage of online platforms to market their products.

According to Mr. Kakomwe the lack of confidence in Local pro-ducers stemmed from the fact

that majority do not have the capacity to meet the demand.

“You know as things get more expensive it will do us a lot of good if we can produce more locally but of course quality products, so working together maybe through formation of co-operatives will rid of middle men and allow us also set prices from there and in turn benefit us the producers, even more we will be able to meet the demand,” he said.

He urged Government to bridge the knowledge gap in the agriculture industry because illiteracy levels were high among farmers.

“Most of our small scale farmers are not even aware of soil tests, these agriculture extension offi-cers need to share information we can produce more using our local materials,” he said.

Mr. Marvin noted that there is need for mindset change in con-sumers especially in supporting local products because it would encourage farmers to produce more.

“What we produce is much more healthier than majority of these imported products, take a look at the honey that we produce locally its on high demand out there a reason for the price hike, so we need to appreciate locally produced goods as Zambians,” he said.

Hot Cross Buns

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead….” 1 Peter 1:3 (NKJV)

If you are my faithful monthly reader you’ll remember the Hot Cross buns from last year. As we prepare for Easter, I thought of resurrecting this

recipe. It is believed in ancient history, that the Anglican monks baked these buns way back in the 12th century and marked them with a cross in honour of Good Friday. They eventually became popular and we see them in our bakeries today. . Try it out and enjoy them this coming Easter.

INGREDIENTS

1 pkt instant dry yeast (7kg)

2 cups warm milk (like a baby’s bath water)

6 cups cake/household flour (extra for dusting)

3 large eggs (1 for brushing)

1/3 cup soft margarine

¼ cup sugar

1 tsp mixed spice (nutmeg, cin-namon, clove etc.)

½ cup dry fruits (raisin, currants etc.)

1 ½ tsp salt

ICING

1 cup icing sugar

6-8 teaspoons milk

METHOD

1. In a jar, dissolve yeast into warm milk.

2. In a separate bowl, add 3 cups flour, dry fruits, salt,

mixed spice and sugar. Mix well.

3. Make a well in the middle of the bowl and add the milk mixture, 2 eggs and margarine. Mix well; the dough will be sticky.

4. On a clean surface, using the remaining flour, place dough and knead it till it be-comes smooth and elastic. This should take about 10 minutes.

5. Grease the same bowl with a little oil and place the dough inside. Cover with a damp tea towel and set aside in a warm (not hot) place till dough rises (for about an hour)

6. Once raised, press dough gently and shape into medi-

um sized balls (like a tennis ball). Try to make them equal in size.

7. Place them on a greased baking tray and loosely cover with cling wrap and set aside to rise again for 30 min.

8. Brush the buns with a beat-en egg and baking in a pre-heated oven at 185 degrees C for 15-20 minutes.

9. For the icing, in a small bowl add a teaspoon at a time into the milk and mix well before adding the next. The icing shouldn’t be too thick or too watery.

10. Place icing in a plastic or piping bag and pipe a cross on the buns. Serve warm and enjoy!

Across1. Damned3. Tester7. Notes8. Cruel9. Reeds10.Dares12.React14.Safer15.Needs19.Boats21.Lapse22.Cited23.Stair24.Taler25.Gander26.Server

Down1. Reside2. Dense4. Strut5. Rested6. Dared11.Reads13.Siren16.Abroad17.Rebid18.Falser20.Trees21.Tares

Anagram Puzzle 0391 32

6

7 8

10

9

11 1312

14 15

16 17 18

19 20

22

21

23 24

25 26

4 5

Solution for Agri-Coop Puzzle 038

R

G

S

A

T

U

E

T1 2 3 4

7

98

10 11 12

13 14 15 16

17 18

20 21 22

23

25 26

5S T R E S S

A

M

U

C

C

E

E

D

I

T

A

M

E

N

S

E

D

P L N

L

A

R

P

O

A T

P

N S E

C

O

E

R E A Y

A S T R N

M A R

B

U

D

G

E

T E N D E R

T

A

S

T

U E S E S

C

A

C

A

S

ER C

M

19

24

6

T E

A

T

R

E A

E D

H A R V E S T

K E

E D

U S E

Rule: The following words can be rearrangedinto another word. Work out what will fit.



AGRISOCIAL

Rogers’ face was covered with a black cloth. He was being taken to where he knew not. In his life he had walked with his eyes closed before but only for a few short steps. Even that could not prepare him for this situation. It was a unique experience.

He wondered where he was being taken but knew not to ask. The men taking him weren’t talking and from what he could deduce from their pace they were eager to get whatever this was over with as quickly as possible.

The men suddenly stopped, he couldn’t tell where he was but he could see shades of bright light through the dark cloth they had him wearing.

His mask was taken off now he was face to face with a police of-ficer who looked opulent in his uniform. “My name is John Phiri,” he said as he proceeded to seat across a desk while gesturing for Rogers to also sit on a chair on the opposite side. Rogers reluc-tantly did it and now he was face to face with Mr. Phiri.

Rogers was glad he had managed to avoid the boss for a while. He did know that there would come a time when he would have to speak to Major Mudenda face to face. For a moment he didn’t know what he hated the most. The interview with the police or the thought of seeing his Boss?

He decided this interview would have to go if it would get him off the mind of his boss.

Rogers was asked about his way during the night the tools went missing. He told them that he was with his family. Rogers could see Inspector Phiri looking at him intensely; it was as though he was looking for something on his face. Rogers was uncomfortable but didn’t want to show it, he only hoped that his face didn’t betray him.

“It says here on this paper that you had questioned people about the missing tools, but I am wondering why you didn’t call the police. Could you tell me why?” John asked. Rogers thought back to his actions and he regretted not telling the police, perhaps it would have helped with his boss and job but he seriously doubted that. He then thought about the number of police men who were at the farm premises. All these men here because of a bunch of thieves, It didn’t make sense. “Why are there so many police men on this case?” asked Rogers.

“Because the thieves you were looking for are murder suspects” John replied.

Chef MulayeMwendafilumba

Face book page: I think you stole my kitchenBlog: https://azambiankitchen.blogspot.com/

Cell number: 0979386584Email address: [email protected]

Services offered: cooking classes for all ages, finger snacks,

personal and outdoor catering and consultation.

16

Story Time

Farming is art

17

Ask Dr Lulu

A global shock like no other Covid-19 has caused disruption to the economy in terms of supply and

demand of products even more a reduced human laboursupply as a way to combat covid-19, In here are the home remedies, prophylaxis and treatments for Covid-19 and other Covid-19 like symptoms for patients who do not qualify for admission or for some reason have to be managed at home under strict quarantine

Covid-19 Medical kit required at home:

1. Paracetamol 1 tablet every 6 hours for 7 days

2. Vitamin C I tablet daily for 14days

3. Vitamin E 1 tab daily x 14days

4. B complex 1 tablet daily x14days

5. Zink tablets 1 daily x 14days

6. Azithromycin 500mg twice a day for 7 days

7. Breathing exercises

8. Cough syrup if coughing a spoon as needed.

Additional equipment not man-datory (Only if you can afford)

• Pulse oximeter

• Oxygen cylinder

Ingredients for streaming: (Di-powana/ Sefotho/ Go arabela) Steam at least TWICE a day

• Water pout 500ml – in a washing dish (Sekotlelo)

• Eucalyptus (Bloekom boom) leaves.

• Garlic crushed or sliced.

• Ginger sliced/Crushed or in powder form.

• Lemon peels or Orange peels

• 3 TO 4 Stones

Pour water in a dish. Put all the above inside the water in the dish.

Heat the stone on the stove till they are very hot(Not necessar-ily red hot).

Undress yourself as much as possible(Preferably remain with underwear only).

Take a thick large blanket.

Put hot stones in the water. Cover yourself with the blanket for the teaming for minimum of 10 minutes- Till you sweat too much. As you steam breath in though the mouth and exhale through the nostrils x 5 and change to inhaling through the nostrils and exhale through the mouth x times. The Corona virus is heat sensitive and dies at high temperatures.

Covid-19 Three stages:

1. Covid-19 only in nose -recovery time is half a day. (Steam inhaling) vitamin C Usually no fever.Asymp-tomatic.

2. Covid-19 in throat-sore throat, recovery time 1 day (hot water gargle, warm water to drink, if temp then paracetamol. Vitamin C, B complex. If severe than antibiotic

3. Covid-19 in lungs-cough-ing and breathlessness 4 to 5 days. (Vitamin C B complex, hot water gargle, oximeter, paracetamol , cylinder if severe , lot of liquid required, deep breathing exercise.

Stage when to approach hos-pital:

Monitor the oxygen level If it goes below 80(normal 98-100) then you need oxygen cylinder. If available at home take it by nasal prongs or oxygen mask, or else go to hospital.

Stay Healthy, Stay Safe!

Please forward to your con-tacts. You never know who it may help:

Tata Group has started good initiative they are providing free doctors consultation online through charts. This facility is started for you so that you need not to go out for doctors and you will be safe at home.

Below is the link, I request everyone to take benefit of this facility.

https://www.tatahealth.com/online-doctor-consultation/general-physician. Advice from inside isolation hospitals, we can do at home.

Additional measures to take

1. from (10 to 11) hours, sitting in the sunshine for 15-20 minutes.

2. Egg meal once.

3. Take a rest/ sleep a mini-

mum of 7-hours.

4. Drink 2 liters of water daily.

5. All meals should be warm(not cold.

This in asymptomatic to mild diseases that does not need to be hospitalized.

Note that the pH of coronavi-rus varies from 5.5 to 8.5.

Therefore all we have to do to eliminate the virus is to consume more alkaline foods above the acidity level of the virus.

Such as:

• Bananas

• Green lemon-9.9 pH

• Yellow Lemon-8.2pH

• Avocado-15.6pH

• Garlic-13.2pH

• Mango-8.7pH

• Tangerine -8.5pH

• Pineapple-12.7 pH

• Watercress-22.7 pH

• Oranges-9.2 pH

How to suspect that you are infected with corona virus ?

1. Itchy troat

2. Dry throat

3. Dry cough

4. High temperature

5. Shortness of breath

6. Loss of smell...

7. Tiredness/ Lassitude

And lemon with warm water eliminates the virus at the beginning before reaching the lungs...

Do not keep this information to yourself-f. Provide it to all your family and friends.

If symptom’s are severe or persistent- Consult your doctor or Go to the nearest hospital.

This does not substitudecon-sulting your caregiver and testing but might help a lot of people



Production unit in school policy should be extended to tertiary education institutions.

Carol: I oppose this motion, as it would bring more stress on students who already face challenges that often seem insurmountable. They have to clear their courses not to mention manage hectic routines. Placing such demands such as Production units on them would be quite unfair to say the least.

Nalikena: I propose this motion as it would help with debt burdens that some Tertiary institutions are facing. Production units would be a game changer in ways that we wouldn’t fully grasp yet. I present to you a study from two institutions that have implemented the same policy namely Mark Moffat and David Livingstone. These schools have become self sus-taining. This policy can change everything for the better.

Carol: I still oppose this motion; for starters students pay a lot of mon-ey. Why that money can’t be used to finance a labor force that would deal with the production unit. I believe it is logical.

Nalikena: Production units would also enable skills transfer, virtually handling unemployment issues in the process. More would be gained from their introduction than shunning them away.

Carol: Production units would burden institutions with finding land for such activities. We would agree that this policy cannot be introduced at a wide scale at this time and hence it makes the motion redundant.

Nalikena: it is said where there is a will there’s a way. Issues to deal with the lack of land are just excuses. The rewards are worth the risk.

Home remediesto treat Covid-19

Health & Wellness

Lets Debate thisLIKE OUR FACEBOOK PAGE FOR MORE HEALTH TIPS AND HOME REMEDIES fb: Health and wellness Cell: 0954 815 504

He further explained that chemi-cal distribution is also dependent on the number of farmers in a given district because the more the number of farmers the more the infestation.

Dr. CHOOMBE emphasized that the chemicals distributed from the Provincial Office to District Agricultural Coordinators in the province and subsequently to farmers should be strictly for free and not for sale.

He also observed that farmers should realize that the chemicals are an emergency measure and they are also expected to buy their own chemicals to assist in controlling and containing the pest.

Dr. CHOOMBE told the National Agricultural Information Services that his office has received reports of Fall Army Worm at-taches on field crops from most districts in Southern Province adding that infestation is at the small level.

The PACO further pointed out that so far the crop stand in the province is very good for the 2020/2021 season noting that if there will be no floods the province anticipates a bumper harvest.

Dr. CHOOMBE said most of the maize in the field is green and not yellow as it has received fertilizer.

He named the districts to be recipients of the Fall Army Worm chemicals as Kazungula, Living-stone, Zimba, Kalomo, Choma, and Sinazongwe.

Others are Pemba, Namwala, Gwembe, Monze, Chikankata, Mazabuka, and Siavonga.



Lets grow Ginger

By Sally Mulambya

Ginger production has the potential to be-come an important Agricultural occu-pation however, it’s

dominated by a few smallholder farmers who apply little or no agricultural inputs a reason for the low productivity and low returns from ginger farming in Zambia

Lack of knowledge on proper ag-ronomical cultivation practices, the lack of proper post harvest handling skills and use of poor quality seedlings are also among the many reasons that limit

farmers productivity.

Ginger cultivation is a very intensive operation that takes up a lot of time and attention if one is to be successful however for one who intends to venture in growing the crop consultation from an agronomist is key.

There are many varieties of ginger but the most common edible type usually grown from the actual root is known as Zingiber Officinale,this variety is used for its aromatic rhizomes used as a spice and for medicinal purposes.

Selecting Ginger seedlings

Gregory Bwalya a small scale gin-ger grower, who grows explains that when choosing ginger make sure to look for roots that are free of plump and wrinkles pref-erably those that have started to turn green.

He recommends that one cuts the ginger into b2.5cm using a sanitized knife or shears ensur-ing each piece has a small point called an eye that will eventu-ally grow into a separate plant, although a piece with three eyes is likely to sprout.

Allow the pieces to heal leave them to dry for a few days.

Ginger can be grown directly in the ground or in pots (more on that later).Ginger preparation can start in June but a soil anal-ysis is carried out to determine the nutrients that are needed for the new crop

Mr. Bwalya explains that through his four years of growing ginger selecting soil type is especially important as it’s related to hy-dration, because you will need to water every day, always keeping the soil moist like what you’ll find in its native rainy environ-ment.

Make sure your soil is mixed well with rotten compost so that you do not fertilize and has a ph of between 6.1 to 6.5 and a tem-perature of 22-25 degrees.

You will want to find a location that’s in full to partial shade with rich, loamy, and well-draining soil for planting. This is naturally an understory plant that thrives in hot and humid jungle-like con-ditions with dappled sunlight.Amend with compost or aged manure if your soil is lacking.

Because a portion of the harvest-ed ginger roots are replanted to produce the next crop, the farmer needs to select the best for this purpose. The challenge, according to Gregory is to culti-vate pathogen-free seed.

Planting infected seed can con-taminate the whole land and can lose you your entire crop. We follow strict hygiene practices to keep the seed storage areas clean and clean all implements used in one land before moving to the next.

Temperature is another im-portant element to take note of when growing ginger this is because Ginger mainly thrives in deep loamy soils with a pH of 6.1

and 6.5 and temperature of 22 to 25 degrees

Plant in early spring if possible if you you live in a warmer climate, you can plant at any time.Slice off the fingers, making sure each rhizome piece is 1 to 2 inches long with at least one bud.

Allow the pieces to dry for 24-48 hours before planting, as this helps to control for possible root rot.

Plant cut sections at least 12 inches apart no deeper than 1 inch. For commercial cultiva-tion, ginger is usually planted in double rows 1 foot apart with a working path between rows.

You’ll want to grow in the closest match to its native soil type as possible – which is a damp, fertile, rich, and humus-like soil that absorbs water, but doesn’t get soggy.

Water well after planting

According to Mr. Bwalya Ginger has a high nutrient requirement, constant supplying nutrients through micro-irrigation system is important.

In addition, ginger requires soil with a high humus content as this contains the right nutrients. The darker the soil, the better; sandy soils, for example, are not suitable as they leach more rap-idly and tend to exacerbate the nematode problem that often arises with ginger

Leaves will emerge after about 1 week.Water sparingly but deeply after you see growth.

Your ginger will grow up to four feet tall and many of the roots will appear above ground, which is natural for this type of plant.

To protect the roots from rot, water will also

It’s also important to ensure balanced fertilizer applications, as fertilizer can be detrimental to soil bacteria.Nematodes, army-worm and phytophthora are the main pest threats

PARTIAL SHADE TO LIGHT SUN

Ginger’s native climate is trop-ical, rainy, and forested. Keep your plants (or pots) out of full sun – consider putting them in the shade of a tree, or under a shadow-casting cloth.

Sure, you could grow it year-round if you’re located some-place like Arizona. But with the dry desert sun there, you’ll need something to both shade your plant and retain moisture.

Harvesting Your Ginger

Ginger can be harvested man-ually with pitchforks, and every effort is made to lift the ginger out of the soil without breaking this can be done about three to four months after planting; how-ever it is important to leave the plant to mature until it develops a stronger flavor,

As the stems turn yellow reduce water as this happens and stop watering entirely

18

Fall Army Worm chemi-cals dispatchedFrom back page

19

Honey Bee Pests And Mitigation MeasuresThere are a number of challeng-es a beekeeper is anticipated to face in their bee husband-ry. Good bee husbandry and investing in good beekeeping equipment will go a long way in averting some common prob-lems encountered in beekeeping. Honey bee pests are among the common challenges.

This feature seeks to highlight some of the common honeybee pests a beekeeper is likely to encounter in their bee husband-ry and the possible solutions or intervention measures to avert them.

1. RED ANTS

Red ants, black ants and Termites constitute the biggest problem to the tropical beekeeper. Ants will attack and decimate bee populations while termites will cause big damage to beekeeping equipment and structures, espe-cially those made of wood. As a preventative measure:

1. Use old engine oil or grease around hive stands or poles. Bitumen or tar can also be used.

2. Termite damage can be prevented by use of wood preservative on all wooden prod-ucts. If wood preservative has to be used on equipment housing bees such as hives or catcher boxes, it should be of a non-in-secticide type and should only be applied to the exterior parts.

3. Top bar hives are effectively protected against both ants and termite attack by hanging them between poles us-ing strong wire which have been smeared with a bit of grease at the points where the wire makes contact with the poles.

4. Legs of hive stands can be stood in water cans. It should however be ensured that

the cans always contain water for this type of protection to be effective.

5. Rocky areas are not prone to red ant or termite attacks. These can be advanta-geously used to accommodate hives. The fact that these are agriculturally unproductive areas makes them ideal for bee hous-ing.

2. WAX MOTH LARVAE

These are the larvae of a certain type of moths which feed on wax combs. They are prevalent throughout the year but are severe in hot, humid weather. To prevent attack or minimize on incidents:

1. Fill up and close all cracks and un-attended entranc-es in the hive body which serve as entry points by wax moths into the hives.

2. Remove all damaged, old, dark, and un-attended combs from the nest.

3. Keep hives free of any combs immediately a swarm absconds.

4. Prevent swarming which weakens colonies making them unable to adequately cover all combs.

5. Destroy any wax moth larvae and cocoons when detect-ed.

3. HIVE BEETLES

These are armoured beetles which feed on bee brood. They cause a lot of damage to brood and hinder colony expansion. Against these, bees are helpless and will abscond if infestation becomes severe. They are more numerous during hot times of

the year, especially between November and February.

To prevent their attack;

1. Make hive entrances not larger than 10mm wide.

2. Remove and kill them physically if found.

4. HONEYBEE DISEASES

Honey bees, like all other living things do suffer from diseases. The problem of diseases of the honeybee has, to some extent, been exacerbated by man. The traffic of honey bee colonies by man from one area to the other mean that honey bee diseases are spread from endemic areas to other areas. Whenever oc-currence or presence of disease in a beekeeper’s stock is sus-pected, it should be reported to the relevant authorities without delay.

5. PESTICIDES AND OTHER CHEMICALS

Most pesticides and herbicides are toxic to bees. Colonies foraging on colonies which have been recently sprayed will be greatly reduced in numbers. Hives should be kept away

from crops which are regularly sprayed.

Beekeepers should not con-tribute to this problem. Use of pesticides should be avoided as much as possible. When their use is inevitable, they should not be applied when flowers are open.

LOSS OF HABITAT

Bees depend on flowering plants for food. Unavailability of nectar and pollen sources will always result in honey bees migrating from such habitats. Loss of habitat can result from massive forest destruction and large scale mono cropping.

Beekeepers can help to ensure that there are enough plants for bees by:

1. Planting flowering plants around apiaries.

2. Allowing wild plants to grow wherever there is space, including by road sides, near houses and in-between fields.

3. Engaging in forest conservation measures and not being part to indiscriminate tree cutting and avoiding environ-mentally degrading practices such as charcoal burning.

4. Observing flowers in your area and determine

a) Which flowers bees visit

b) The time of the day these flowers are visited by bees

c) Whether the bees are collecting nectar, pollen or both.

Be aware of pesticides. Regularly sprayed fields are detrimental to honey bee health. Colonies foraging on these will be greatly weakened in numbers with the probable result that the bees may migrate from the vicinity of such areas.



Mr Mumba Ai A practising beekeeper and Director of Training at Al-Apis Concepts Ltd

This information is brought to you in the community service of Al – Apis Concepts Ltd.

For your questions and clari-fications from this feature, contact the author on 0967 419 551/0954 186 973. Email: [email protected]. For all your beekeeping requirements contact Al-Apis Concepts Ltd. Phone: +260 966 474757

Providing Solutions To Optimise Farm Productivity For The Farmer Through Innovation & Cost Effective Quality Products To Provide The CustomerBetter Value For Money

Cropserve Mpongwe, Commercial Shop No. 2 Machiye Road, Cell: +260 978 168324, 0975 614419.

Cropserve Mazabuka, Plot No. 1557, Livinstone Road, Tel: 0966 938651.

Cropserve Mumbwa4ways Building, Agro Complex Plot No. 148, Shop No. 4, Tel: 0979 663713.

Cropserve Choma Plot No. 261, Singani Road, Tel: 0977 793377.

Cropserve Lusaka, Plot No. 5055, Mumgwi Road,

Tel: +260 211 212514, Cell: 0979 276770, 0979 26773.

Cropserve Mkushi, Mkushi Town Centre, Independence Avenue, Cell: 0977 63895.

Cropserve Kabwe, Shop No. 6811, New Kasanda Market, Lusaka - Zambia, Cell:0977 898587

DOC Shortage Hits Poultry Industry

because prices of feed and everything else is going up. All I’m asking them is to be a bit more efficient now.If you have for instance 100 chickens don’t employ anybody, do it yourself then you will see the profit out of your chickens. Make it a fami-ly business.

“Rely less on others and do all yourself unless you have large numbers but for something like 200 chickensyou can do it

yourself and also involve your family members get them to do something instead of going to look for people out there,” she appealed passionately.

Meanwhile, she has since ap-pealed to the poultry farmers of today to go back to the basics of waiting for three weeks after making an order before they could collect their day-old chicks as it takes 21 days for the eggs to hatch.

“If we go back to the ordinary way, people are supposedto wait for three weeks before they have their chicks because the eggs lay after 21 days after being put in an incubator.

“But what has been happening now is people expect to go in a chick shop and get chicks on the spot and because of that people are not planning they just walk in and say I want chicks,” she explained.

opment, saying incorporating the business aspect to chicken production would help grow the poultry sector in the district.Mr. Maipambe observed that once empowered with knowl-edge, the farmers would be able to market their produce.He said this would encourage more farmers to join the village chicken commercialization pro-gramme.He since implored farmers in the district to join the local chicken commercialization programme.Mr. Maipambe added that the Patriotic Front government was creating an enabling environment to allow for the diversification of the economy to the agriculture and livestock sectors.Technosave is running a vil-lage chicken commercialization project in which it has empow-ered poultry farmers in Luanshya district through the provision of training and inputs.The project, which commenced three years ago, has benefited over 2,000 farmers through the provision of inputs, including day-old chicks and equipment.

Technosave, ZDA partner to sharpen Luanshya poultry farmers’ skillsFrom back page

Fall Army Worm chemicals dispatched

BY LAWRENCE KABUTU

GOVERNMENT through the ministry of Agriculture has dispatched 7 thousand litres of Fall Army Worm chemicals to fight against the deadly pest from ravaging field crops in Southern Province.

Southern Province Agricultural Coordinator Dr. Max CHOOMBE said the chemicals are being distributed to all the 13 districts and affected farmers in the province to combat the pest.Dr. CHOOMBE said quantities of chemicals being distributed per district are dependent on reports received from District Agricultural Coordinators in terms of areas affected and also the areas at risk.



K10

To page 18

Minister in the Office of the Vice-PresidentOlipa Phiri, handing over a 60 horse power TAFE tractor.

20

Farmers News, all Seasons.

agri -COOP

FSG Zambia fertilisers ensure a successful yield. SUPERFERT VEG BLEND 1 (10 N : 10 P : 20 K)

Superfert veg blend 1 is a perfect basal dressing fertiliser for horticulture production. It has the required nutrient composition to protect young plants from challenges such as root scotching during the initial stages of crop establishment.

This fertiliser can be applied before planting or within the first week after transplanting. The recommended application is 10 g of Superfert veg blend 1 per plant, placed 5 cm away beneath the soil surface. This blend provides sufficient phosphorous to promote quick root formation and strenghen cellulose in the xylem cells of young plants. Superfert provides the necessary nutrition for young plants to flourish during the initial stages of crop development which is a critical stage in determining the potential of your yield.

Fert Seed & Grain Ltd+260 977 610 498 | +260 973 848 229 | +260 973 782 [email protected] | [email protected]

Contact us:

Technosave, ZDA partner to sharpen Luanshya poultry farmers’ skillsBy Mathias Zulu

Technosave Project has partnered with the Zambia Development Agency ZDA to build capacity of small and me-dium scale poultry farmers in Luanshya district under its village chicken com-mercialization project.Project Technical Services Manager, Daisy Kamanga said the project has offered practical training to poultry farmers on village chicken production, through anchor farmers using demon-stration farms.Ms. Kamanga however noted that the training lacked the business aspect, which she said posed a major marketing challenge to farmers.She observed that while the project offered training on chicken production, it lacked a business component, hence the partnership with the ZDA to conduct training in business management and entrepreneurship.She added that the project that has been running in the district for three years, has resulted into the creation of demonstration farms, the recruitment of new farmers, and the formation of a cooperative union that helped farmers to market their produce.ZDA Enterprise Development Officer, Obby Banda said the training pro-gramme will focus on business devel-opment services to build capacity in entrepreneurial and business manage-ment skills in farmers.Mr. Banda added that the training programme will also be extended to en-hance market linkages so that farmers can market their produce both in Luan-shya and to other parts of the country.He said his team is in the district to conduct a needs assessment in order to ascertain the needs of the farmers be-fore rolling out the training programme.He further explained that the needs assessment will further help ZDA to customize the training programmes to

suit the farmers’ needs in business and entrepreneuri-al services.And Luanshya District Com-missioner Patrick Maipambe has welcomed the devel-

To page 19 To page 14

ZABS Certifies Meheba RiceBy Mathias Zulu

The Zambia Bureau of Stand-ards (ZABS) has awarded a certificate of conformity to Kalota agricultural cooperative of Meheba refugee camp for rice production in Kalumbila district of Northwestern province.ZABS Chief Executive Officer, Manuel Mutale presented the certificate to the cooperative at its rice processing centre in Meheba yesterday.Mr. Mutale said his institution is proud to present the certificate to the cooperative.“We are very proud as ZABS that we are awarding the certificate of conformity to this facility. What that means is that your product is safe for consumption and it gives the cooperative the assurance that the work they are doing is in compliance with the require-ments of the standards,” he said.Mr. Mutale explained that once a product is certified, it must carry the ZABS quality mark to indicate

to consumers that it is a safe product.He disclosed that in 2019, ZABS resolved to offer a second tier certification to cater for small-medium enterprises (SMEs) in the country.“In 2019, we resolved that we come up with some second tier certification pro-gramme which would em-brace the SMEs because our understanding is that SMEs are producing products that are going into the market and we need that assurance that those products are complying with standards,” Mr. Mutale said.He advised that the printing on the packaging for the Meheba rice will now have to be revised to include the ZABS quality mark.“The packaging will have to be re-done to put the ZABS

Documents

DOC ShOrtage hitS POultry inDuStry