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Location: Zambia

Crop rotations in conservation agriculture systems equal healthy profits and soils in Zambia’s Eastern Province

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DSC06486During 06-10 February 2012, a team of CIMMYT scientists travelled to six communities in Zambia’s Eastern Province to monitor progress on activities implemented under the Sustainable Intensification of Maize-Legume systems for the Eastern Province of Zambia (SIMLEZA) project, funded by USAID as part of Barack Obama’s “Feed the Future” initiative. The team was joined by national partners from governmental extension services, field coordinators from Total Land Care, Zambian researchers from Msekera Research Station, IITA, and CIP, and a group of farmers from Monze, in Zambia’s Southern Province. Journalists from two radio stations, one daily newspaper, and Zambian television covered the visit.

The SIMLEZA project began in October 2011 and exhibits a large variety of validation trials using improved maize and legume varieties, in conjunction with conservation agriculture (CA), to sustainably increase productivity on farmers’ fields. The validation trials currently demonstrate maize grown either as a sole crop, intercropped, or planted in full rotation with legumes. Farmers in the Eastern Province are excited about these new ways of farming; they want to shift from traditional, monocropped systems to more profitable crop rotations. In field discussions, farmers commended the other benefits of CA: Reductions in labor, effectiveness of weed control through judicious use of herbicides, increased moisture conservation, and reduced surface run-off and soil erosion. The project also has a strong emphasis on involving women in the extension of new technologies to improve their livelihoods.

Identifying a suitable market for alternative crops such as cowpeas or soyabeans remains a challenge in the Eastern Province, though the SIMLEZA project is addressing this by targeting bottlenecks in the value chain. Through involvement of agro-dealers, the availability of improved seed and markets for produce will be facilitated and processing skills will be enhanced. CIMMYT also collaborates with IITA scientists in this project to make use of their expertise in legume production and processing.

Currently the SIMLEZA project operates in six target communities, but it aims to impact 20,000 households in the Eastern Province by 2014.

Benefits of biofortification explored during meeting in Zambia

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Over 50 experts gathered in Lusaka, Zambia during 15-18 March 2010 for HarvestPlus’s 5th Maize Team Meeting. The meeting, organized by CIMMYT and hosted by the Zambia Agricultural Research Institute (ZARI), included overviews of progress reports, four field visits, and identification of needs and development plans for further success.

HarvestPlus is a CGIAR Challenge Program that uses biofortification to improve the nutritional value of staple foods.

A key topic at the meeting was the development and use of maize varieties with high amounts of provitamin A and their potential benefits for consumers in Zambia. Between one third and half of all Zambian children suffer from vitamin A deficiency, which weakens their vision and immune systems, makes them more vulnerable to various diseases, and reduces their productivity and quality of life. Maize is Zambia’s staple food. HarvestPlus uses conventional breeding to create maize hybrids and open-pollinated varieties with a high density of pro-vitamin A.

ZARI and private companies are currently evaluating advanced experimental varieties for yield and agronomic characteristics; the best of these will be tested for pro-vitamin A content. Additionally, a new generation of varieties with higher amounts of pro-vitamin A than today’s best hybrids is now being bred. New information on a crucial gene that increases pro-vitamin A has made this possible. This information was published in a March 2010 article in Nature Genetics.

During the meeting, attendees presented and discussed several other topics and studies. These included socio-economic work to assess the likely consumer acceptance of biofortified orange maize; food technology to assess the effects of food preparation on the nutritional value of maize; biochemistry to assess the causes and losses of pro-vitamin A during milling and storage; and nutrition to assess the health impacts on children who eat biofortified maize.

A particularly fruitful session involved several stakeholders from Zambia, including representatives from the Ministry of Health, nongovernmental organizations, ZARI, and seed companies. Partnerships with these and other Zambian colleagues are essential for the delivery of biofortified maize to farmers and consumers. CIMMYT attendees included Kevin Pixley, Natalia Palacios, Hugo de Groote, John MacRobert, Sebastian Mawere, and Amsal Tarekegne.

DTMA news from Zambia

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Wilfred Mwangi, program leader for the Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA) Project, presented the DTMA award for best breeding team in southern Africa to the Zambian Agricultural Research Institute (ZARI) on 26 March 2009. Peter Setimela, seed systems specialist, and Bindiganavile Vivek, maize breeder (both from CIMMYTZimbabwe) were among those who attended the ceremony at Mount Makulu Research Station in Chilanga, Zambia.

“I am truly excited to be a part of such an occasion. Awards such as these are very important as incentives for our researchers,” Dr. Watson Mwale, director of the ZARI, told guests.

A day before the ceremony, on 25 March 2009, 20 participants were in a variety release awareness workshop, supported by the DTMA. It was organized to enhance knowledge among researchers and the national variety release committee (NVRC) on variety release guidelines and procedures in Zambia. The researchers were plant breeders from seed companies and the national agricultural research systems (NARS).

During the workshop, variety release procedures and guidelines in selected countries in sub-Saharan Africa were compared and NVRC members were updated on new tools for screening and evaluating maize genotypes under drought and low-Nitrogen (N). The workshop also outlined methods for interpreting data for variety release and shared experiences on variety release from a seed company’s perspective.

Dr. Moses Mwale, deputy director of ZARI, said; “The current rise in food prices can be addressed through increased productivity by using improved varieties. I hope that the presentations and discussions made during the workshop will result in speeding up the release of improved varieties and distribution of quality seed.” Mwale also added, “Harmonization of variety release and registration in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region will help achieve this goal.”