By JOSIAH MPOFU
Development and easy access to improved legume seed varieties by farmers in Zambia has helped them to adapt to issues of climate change and prevention of crop diseases.
Smallholder farmers in Eastern, Northern and Southern provinces have already started benefitting from the new improved groundnut seed variety called MGV 8 which was developed by Msekera Agriculture Research Institute in partnership with the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT).
ICRISAT is a non-profit and political organization that conducts agricultural research for development in the drylands of Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. It partners with developing countries to overcome poverty, hunger and a degraded environment through better agricultural practices and conducts research on five highly nutritious drought-tolerant crops that include chickpea, pigeon pea, pearl millet, sorghum, and groundnut.
Some farmers who have been growing the MGV 8 variety since 2021 are happy with the variety as it is high yielding and resistant to groundnut rosette disease.
Brenda Phiri of Kanjala Agricultural Camp in Chipata district in Eastern province has been achieving greater yields since the time she started planting the new groundnut variety.
Ms Phiri vowed to only plant MGV 8 due to its numerous advantages.
“Most farmers in this area are moving away from growing old groundnut seed varieties because they are susceptible to various diseases and are low yielding,” Ms Phiri explained.
She thanked Msekera Agriculture Research Institute for working with various projects such as Market and Seeds Access Project (MASAP), Sustainable Intensification of Smallholder Farming Systems in Zambia (SIFAZ) and the Scaling Up Nutrition project II (SUN-II) for providing her with knowledge and 5kilogramme groundnut MGV 8 seed.
Ms Phiri has now expanded the area of production from 5kg to 25kg. She expects more than 40 by 50 Kilogrammes of unshelled groundnuts.
“In 2021/2022 farming season, I cultivated a lima out of the 5kg of groundnut MGV seed, I was given and I managed to produce 11 by 50 kilogrammes of unshelled groundnuts. For the 2022/2023 farming season, I secured 25kg of seed and cultivated more than 2.5 acres of which am expecting not less than 40 by 50 Kg bags of unshelled groundnuts,” she said.
She added that the knowledge she acquired has enabled her to look at groundnut as a lucrative venture that can improve her livelihood.
Currently, a 50kg bag of shelled groundnuts is selling in the range of K2,000 and above.
Mirriam Mweemba, a farmer of Manungu Agricultural Camp in Monze district said her life has never been the same since she started using the new MGV 8 groundnut variety.
Ms Mweemba said before she learnt about the new variety when she was still using other varieties which hard poor yields due to drought and diseases.
She said her livelihood has changed due to the crop management techniques she learnt from the SUN II programme coupled with the new groundnut variety she is using.
Ms Mweemba disclosed that she managed to purchase a plot in Monze and 4 cows after selling 30 by 50kg bags of shelled groundnuts which she had cultivated in the 2021/2022 farming season.
The joyful Mweemba said this farming season, she expects to harvest about 34 by 50kg bags of shelled groundnut as the crop has performed well despite the floods and dry spells that characterised the 2022/2023 farming season.
“I’ll continue growing legume crops as they are not only profitable but also help to improve soil fertility,”said Ms Mweemba.
Zambia Agriculture Research Institute (ZARI) Senior Agriculture Research Officer Makwetu Lutangu said ZARI with various cooperating partners will continue developing drought tolerant and high yielding legume seeds in order to increase food and nutrition security in Zambia.
Mr Lutangu said other than the MGV 8 groundnut variety, MGV 7 and Wamusanga variety has also been developed to ensure that farmers have a wider range of groundnut seed varieties to choose from.
He revealed that ZARI working together with ICRISAT has also developed cowpea varieties such as Mthiliza, Lutembwe and Bubebe that are aimed at improving yields among smallholder farmers and improve their livelihoods.
Mr Lutangu said Msekera Research Station has so far distributed various legume varieties to more than 400 farmers in Chipata as a way of promoting new legume varieties in the country.
He disclosed that farmers were given 5kg each of either groundnuts or soya beans seeds which they will later give to other farmers after harvesting.
The adoption of these new varieties aims at ensuring that every farmer access and plant legume crops in their farms and help in attaining the country’s crop diversification agenda.
More research and development towards legume production and consumption needs to be promoted in order to improve good nutrition and reduce the usage of chemical fertilizer thereby enhancing the environmental sustainability of agricultural production and productivity.