Zambian Research Document

Zambia is a country enriched with a large land resource base of 42 million hectares of which only 1.5 million hectares is cultivated every year. Zambia has an abundant water resource that could used for irrigation. The has 40 percent of the water in Central and Southern Africa.

"The terrain of Zambia is mostly high plateau, with some hills and mountains. The lowest point is the Zambezi river, at 329 m (1,079 ft) above sea level, with the highest being Mafinga Central in the Mafinga Hills, at 2,339 m (7,674 ft) above sea level."

The keys points from this are that Zambia is in a unique position -Abundance of fertile land Water -Generally, favourable climate for agricultural production. And has been deemed as the possible "Breadbasket" of the Region.

Case study

“As small scale farmers, we don’t irrigate and we depend on the weather pattern,” he says. “If I only grew maize and the season is bad, then I have a big problem.

Cow peas are a drought resistant crop so even if there’s little rain this season, I’ll still have an income from them.”

“With dark clouds above and dampness in the air, Golden (farmer) knows it will not be long until he starts planting again.” Relying on an estimate/guess when it will rain illustrates huge margin of error for the farmers.

From this you gather that knowledge is key for a successful yield and that most small scale farmers really on guesswork.

Notes on Zambia

Zambia is Classified as low-middle income by World Bank

- GDP growing at 6% per annum

-Agricultural growth rate at 7% - above 6% CAADP Goal

-Tree consecutive maize bumper harvest years 5

-BUT Persistently high rural poverty: ≈80%

Zambia is characterized by

-Rapid population growth – 13 million

-High poverty rates ~ 80% of rural people poor

-High food and income inequality in urban areas

-High malnutrition rates of children under 5 years

-Rapid urbanization and increasing demand for food

-Stagnant agricultural production

Maize Production

Maize requires a well prepared field. Soils must be deep, fertile and well drained.

Corn doesn’t necessarily require a smooth seed bed. If you setting up your maize on a new field, its better you plough twice before you would sow the maize seeds, and the other field you plough once.

Best time to plant: You need to plant your maize at the onset of the rains either in March or in August to September. However, you could also plant your maize when it’s still dry but during the time when the rains are expected soon. In this case though, you need to treat your seeds against soil pests before planting.

Depth of planting: make an estimate of about 5-7 cm deep, and you can make the holes deeper for dry planting and sandy soil.

Spacing: when spacing maize it may solely depend on the variety of the maize taken up and or if an intercropping pattern is used on the maize field. for example , longe1 is spaced by 75x30cm with a seed rate of 25kg/ha.longe 2H is given a spacing of 75x30m with a seed rate of 25kg/ha so does other varieties.

The key requirements are nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. (For crop a higher yield)

Summary

• On a well prepared land open up holes of about 5-7cm for hand planting

• Saw at least 3 seeds per hole. Sawing should be in rows

• Then thinly cover with a layer of soil

• Water when sawing is done earlier before onset of the rains

• Ensure spacing as recommended earlier

• Weed the field after 2-3 weeks after planting

• Harvest your maize when the comb is well filled and dry for drying type or harvest it fresh

• Your harvest should be timed around the 7th or 8th week after planting

Politics

80 percent of Zambia’s population is dependent on agriculture. The majority of farmers are small scale. And most of these farmers grow maize for their livelihood. The country’s small scale farmers are forced to sell the surplus to the private sector for below the recommended price floor (price floor is the lowest legal price a commodity can be sold at). So there is less money put back into the crop.

Zimbabwe’s impact on Zambia

One of former President Robert Mugabe's (Zimbabwe) most controversial policies was the land reform programme of 2000 which made it legal for black Zimbabweans to seize properties from white farmers - without compensation.

The policy was meant to consolidate his support but resulted in thousands of white commercial farmers being driven off the land.

The majority fled to neighbouring Zambia; according to research these foreign or non-native farmers have shown tremendous knowledge and skills and have helped increase the productivity of the farming industry.