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CRS, Partners, Act to Reduce Post-harvest losses

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By GLORIA SIWISHA CROP production is a major source of livelihood for most rural households in Eastern Province. However, experts in the region estimate that between 20 to 40 percent of this produce is lost  through post-harvest losses or those food losses that occur across the food supply chain from  harvesting of crop until its consumption. For example, World Food Programme (WFP) studies quote maize post-harvest losses in Zambia as being at 11% at harvesting; 8% at storage, 2% at transportation, 1% at processing, 1% packaging, and 2% at sales. Losses occur due to a number of reasons, among them, the inadequate storage facilities; poor handling, pests and diseases, and lack of enough labor to harvest and transport crops. Post-harvest losses, it is argued, disrupt food security efforts of smallholder farmers, and can act as a deterrent to their continued involvement and investment in agriculture. It’s because of the status quo that the Catholic Relief Services (CRS), workin
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Government Staff Trained in Digital Messaging for Priority Zoonotic Diseases

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  By GLORIA SIWISHA   ONE of the concerns that communities have, especially those that live within and around zoonotic diseases endemic areas such as game parks, is the lack of information about how they can protect themselves and their livestock against such diseases.     It’s for this reason that Breakthrough ACTION conducted a content development training in Lusaka aimed at equipping Government staff from selected ministries with skills on how to develop digital messages on priority zoonotic diseases such as Human African trypanosomiasis, Bovine tuberculosis, and Brucellosis.     Jessica Phiri who is Risk Communication and Community Engagement officer at Breakthrough ACTION, said the objective of the training was to develop the capacities of health promotion officers, communication personnel, and social mobilisers from various ministries implementing the one health initiative, so that they were able to effectively communicate health risk messages on priority zoonotic diseases.     “
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E-SLIP interventions delight East smallholder poultry farmers

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By GLORIA SIWISHA DIFFERENT farming communities in Zambia, share livestock in order to empower themselves and sustain their lives. This is because rural farmers generally operate under difficult circumstances characterized by limited access to financing or capital to boost their businesses.   In Eastern Province, the concept of ‘passing on the gift’ to other community members is called “Kuvuula” by both the Chewa and Ngoni people, and through such noble undertakings, communities have been able to co-exist from generation to generation. The Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock also employs this concept in its Enhanced Smallholder Livestock Investment Programme (E-SLIP), a programme which is being implemented in partnership with the International Fund for Agricultural Development ( IFAD), and the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID). Under its livestock stocking and restocking sub-component, E-SLIP empowers women and youths in rural communities with livestock packages
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UNZA, Govt partner to further agriculture research

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  By GLORIA SIWISHA Lusaka, November 18, NAIS………………… THE University of Zambia (UNZA), has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Ministries of Agriculture and Fisheries and Livestock that would enable all three institutions collaborate, to further research in agriculture; ensure policy and programme development, training of students, and conduct outreach to farmers among other benefits. During the signing ceremony in Lusaka, Fisheries and Livestock Permanent Secretary Benson Mwenya expressed confidence that the partnership would yield positive results to increase agricultural production and productivity and enhance research and development in the fisheries and livestock disciplines. Dr Mwenya emphasized that institutions today need not work in silos if they were to realize meaningful results. “In the field of research, we entirely depend on academia…We have the infrastructure in the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock; a lot of infrastructure which is under-utilize
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Government urges women and youths to participate in forage production

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By Gloria Siwisha SMALLHOLDER farmers in rural  parts of the country often face difficulties in providing enough food for their livestock especially during the long dry periods of the year when there is a decline in both quantity and quality of livestock food or forage. This is mainly attributed to the limited information and skills in the production of forage or fodder for livestock, as well as, the economical utilisation of these products. As a result, there is usually chronic nutritional stress on grazing livestock that in turn leads to reduced productivity and incomes from the sale of such animals. For this reason, the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock, through the Enhanced Smallholder Livestock Investment Programme (E-SLIP), has embarked on the ‘sustainable forage and forage seed production and utilization programme’ among smallholder farmers across the country. The programme targets to reach 80,000 smallholder farmers and aims at addressing the need for them to correctly feed t
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ZIFLP to plant 5 million agroforestry trees

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Pot filling: Members of Kasega association fill-up polythene plastics with a mixture of soil and manure By GLORIA SIWISHA EASTERN Province is an agricultural hub contributing a substantial amount of its crop produce to the national food basket. In the 2019/2020 agriculture season alone, the province produced about 600,000 metric tonnes of maize which accounted for 19 percent of the country’s total production. Over the years however, agricultural activities have had a devastating effect on the environment through deforestation, as smallholder farmers seek to open up more farm land in search of fertile soils so as to increase production and productivity. According to a 2016 World Bank report dubbed “Drivers of deforestation and forest degradation in Eastern Province”, 54,027 hectares of forests were lost in Eastern Province between 2000, and 2010, and 102,087 hectares lost between 2010 and 2014. The report attributes the quick depletion of forests in the province to the heavy d
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CCARDESA holds inaugural media awards

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  The Centre for Coordination of Agricultural Research and Development in Southern Africa (CCARDESA), has held its inaugural media awards with a call for journalists in the southern African region to take the lead in disseminating climate smart agriculture (CSA) information in order to help tackle the problem of climate change. According to CCARDESA, climate change has been identified as a major threat that is affecting the SADC region including the agricultural sector which relies heavily on rain-fed agriculture.  Gabriel Masvora of Zimbabwe emerged winner of the awards which were introduced this year, while Gloria Siwisha of the National Agricultural Information Services (NAIS) in Zambia, and Dickson Mmaba of Botswana emerged first and second runners up respectively. Botswana’s Minister of Agricultural Development and Food Security Karabo Gare announced the winners of the inaugural awards during CCARDESA’s 10 th anniversary commemoration last Friday. Mr Gare congratulated the
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