The Zambia Agricultural Research Institute (ZARI) is developing advanced climate-smart agriculture technologies including crop varieties and agronomic practices to boost yields and enhance food security while mitigating the effects of climate change.
Speaking on the side lines of the ongoing benchmarking meetings in Pretoria, South Africa, ZARI Acting Director Ndashe Kapulu said developing climate resilient technologies such as drought, pest and disease tolerant seed varieties remains critical in mitigating climate change threats as we strive to achieve the production targets.
Dr. Kapulu said the Institute has developed rain-fed wheat varieties to enable smallholder farmers to diversify into wheat production.
“The plan is to link smallholder farmers to better markets to improve their incomes and increase their productivity in the country’s quest to achieve the production target of a million metric tonnes of wheat annually by 2027,” said Dr. Kapalu.
He has expressed confidence that this will ultimately contribute to Zambia meeting its ambitious agricultural outputs as directed by President Hakainde Hichilema for the country to produce 10 million metric tonnes of maize and a million metric tonnes of wheat, as well as soybeans annually by 2027.
Mr. Kapalu also revealed ZARI’s ongoing work in soybeans research, stating that the Institute is developing several high-yielding varieties while some are under evaluation, with some already released for use by smallholder farmers.
Meanwhile, Acting Director Seed Control and Certification Institute Dr. Nathan Phiri said the benchmarking exercise to South Africa is vital as it has given the team more insights on what improvements need to be undertaken to enhance productivity in agriculture in Zambia.
He said Zambia requires the availability of improved seed varieties that are also resilient to adverse climatic conditions to achieve the set targets.
This is contained in a statement issued to RCV News by Zambia High Commission in South Africa, First Secretary for Press and Public Relations, Tamara Nyirenda.
By Margaret Mwanza
