By Happy Mulolani
With last year’s drought described as the worst in Zambia’s history, the country witnessed dwindled production in the energy and agriculture sectors, as they were the worst hit. The exacerbated effects of climate change have led the country to deploy strategies to boost production.
In particular, the country’s agriculture sector contributes 20 percent to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), with over 60 percent of livelihoods dependent on the sector.
Recently, Senior staff in the Ministry of Agriculture and Presidential Delivery Unit attended a benchmarking exercise in Pretoria, South Africa. The two-day meeting looked at the Comprehensive Agriculture Transformation Support Programme (CATSP), which is a policy document for the country and the outlined deliverables to be achieved during 10 years, 2024 -2033.
The CATSP is Zambia’s second National Agriculture Investment Plan (NAIP II). It also responds to continental and international aspirations for the agriculture sector and aligns with the Eightly National Development Plan (8NDP) and Vision 2030. CATSP was launched in 2024 by President Hakainde Hichilema at Mulungushi International Conference Centre.
CATSP commits the government to devise appropriate measures that will ensure that the various value chains are progressive, as the agriculture sector is key to the growth of the country and contributes to the gross domestic product.
Consequently, the government is supporting the Ministry of Agriculture through the Zambia Agriculture Research Institute (ZARI) to develop advanced climate-smart agriculture technologies.
These climate-smart technologies range from crop varieties to agronomic practices aimed at boosting yields and enhancing food security at the same time addressing climatic shocks.
In a statement, 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 explained that the research station is promoting diversification by developing rain-fed wheat varieties which will allow smallholder farmers to undertake wheat production.
He disclosed that the research station also plays a key role in ensuring smallholder farmers are linked to potential markets to enable them to improve their incomes.
Dr Kapulu stated that the research station is determined to increase its production capacity to meet the one million metric tonnes of wheat by 2027.
“We are also developing well-adapted irrigated wheat varieties to counter the effects of diseases such as wheat rust, which significantly affects yields,” Dr Kapulu added.
He reiterated that ZARI has deployed several technologies, and developed some drought-resistant varieties.
“As ZARI, we are deploying several technologies, including the development of high-yielding maize varieties tolerant to drought, pests, and diseases,” Dr Ndashe revealed.
Further work is being undertaken in soyabean research. It is envisaged that “several high-yielding varieties are developed, with some already released and farmers are using, whereas, some are under evaluation,” he disclosed.
Dr Ndashe pointed out that ZARI has soyabean varieties for smallholder growing conditions,
“With competitive yields ranging from 3 to 3.5 metric tonnes per hectare. However, reaching full yield potential requires the adoption of good agronomic practices…we are working closely with the Department of Agriculture through the extension services to ensure farmers receive proper guidance,” he added.
While, Acting Director Seed Control and Certification Institute (SCCI) Dr Nathan Phiri also said the availability of improved seed varieties which are resilient to climate change is critical to achieving the set targets.
With all these efforts ZARI and SCCI are frantically working on, the research stations will positively contribute to meeting the Presidential directive to achieve agricultural outputs.
The Government aspires to produce 10 million metric tonnes of maize, one million metric tonnes of wheat and one million metric tonnes of soyabean by the year 2027.
Whereas, lead Consultant in the design of the CATSP and also Chief Executive Officer for ITEED Centre, Dr Alain Onibon, explained that for CATSP to succeed, there is need for the government to employ a compendium of policy implementation instruments.
Dr Onibon emphasized that CATSP was conceptualised on the premise that any policy implementation needs appropriate measures.
“Any policy implementation instrument consists of the following categories of measures: fiscal incentives, regulatory measures, infrastructure development, process management, and communication capacity building,” he stated.
Dr Onibon explained that CATSP was designed by looking at building blocks to ensure it works effectively and benefits the country.
He stressed the need to implement activities systematically and also look at value chains that had worked elsewhere which can be replicated to the Zambian context.
“Many models that tend to work are those that have worked elsewhere, as it becomes easy to draw on lessons learnt and experiences during the implementation process,” Dr Onibon emphasized.
Ultimately, the policy will ensure that once effectively implemented results in job creation, increased export, increased gross domestic product, food nutrition security and self-sufficiency.