Zambian Farmers Research Articles

Exploring climate change perception and heat stress adaptation among Zambian farmers using participatory tools

Exploring climate change perception and heat stress adaptation among Zambian farmers using participatory tools

Utilizing a DenseSwin Transformer Model for the Classification of Maize Plant Pathology in Early and Late Growth Stages: A Case Study of Its Utilization Among Zambian Farmers

Utilizing a DenseSwin Transformer Model for the Classification of Maize Plant Pathology in Early and Late Growth Stages: A Case Study of Its Utilization Among Zambian Farmers

Do Zambian Farmers Manage Climate Risks?

Do Zambian Farmers Manage Climate Risks?

Association between microsatellite markers and rice response to the rice blast pathogen Magnaporthe oryzae in selected Zambian rice genotypes

Magnaporthe oryzae, the rice blast disease pathogen is estimated to cause losses of up to 30% in rice production worldwide, yet its impact on rice production in Zambia remains unknown. Symptomatic rice leaf tissue collected from rice fields in Mongu District of Zambia was cultured on oatmeal agar medium and fungal colonies were purified and identified through leaf lesions and conidia using published keys. An M. oryzae isolate from this study was used to challenge twenty-eight selected Zambian rice genotypes to determine their responses to infection with the pathogen estimated by lesion numbers and sizes. Twelve of the genotypes (42.8%) were highly resistant (HR) with 1 to 2 lesions per cm2, 6 (21.4%) were moderately resistant with mean lesion numbers of 3 to 4 per cm2 while 10 (35.7%) were susceptible with lesion numbers above 5 per cm2 of leaf tissue. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-amplification of rice genomic DNA extracted from the 28 genotypes using selected microsatellite marker primers revealed a moderate genetic diversity with three of them showing significant genetic diversity. Allelic diversity among the selected genotypes was also confirmed from a calculated mean polymorphic information content of 0.8. A correlation between 8 of the microsatellite markers in some of the rice genotypes and their resistance response to M. oryzae was also established. Results show that some of the analysed rice genotypes have a significant potential for use as a genetic resource in breeding for varieties that are resistant to the rice blast pathogen for Zambian farmers.

Soya Beans Production in Zambia: Opportunities and Challenges

The soya bean production opens doors of opportunities for Zambian farmers. Notably, the climate in Zambia is largely favourable for soya production and the arable land is vast enough to accommodate future expansion. Most importantly, soya is a very profitable crop. On the other hand, there are some challenges which affect soya production such as poor soils aggravated by low fertilizer use, poorly developed agricultural advisory services and farmers’ inability to access favourable input and outputs markets. Moreover, farmers predominantly find improved soya seeds expensive. It is therefore expedient for policymakers and the government to join hands to strengthen the linkage between small-scale farmers, commercial producers and the market to assist them to commercialize their products in full scale. In order to address these challenges, the authors suggest that the Zambian government should put farming inputs (such as inoculum seeds), post-harvest management lessons and some necessities at the disposal of farmers. Moreover, the government has to be serious about improving country’s infrastructure especially rural roads to enhance soya bean trade. Lastly, the policymakers should take the responsibility of orchestrating soya trade to avoid trade distrust which results from rigged scales. If these recommendations are taken seriously soya bean production is likely to speed up economic growth and alleviate poverty in Zambia.

Adoption of sustainable agricultural practices and food security threats: Effects of land tenure in Zambia

Among environmental challenges, sustainable agricultural practices (SAP) are imperative to attain better agricultural productivity and food security status of smallholder farms in sub-Saharan Africa, including in Zambia. To understand the adoption behavior of SAP of Zambian farmers in more depth, the study determines factors that influence the adoption probability of SAP. In particular, we study the effect of land tenure. Furthermore, the study tests the association of SAP use and food security of smallholder households. Data collection involved a structured questionnaire survey that was conducted in southern Zambia in 2016. The sample consisted of 400 households, 200 with customary and 200 with statutory land tenure. The probit regression analysis results indicate that land ownership influences the adoption of SAP in our sample. Households with customary land tenure had a 17.4%, 17.2% and 9.1% lower probability to adopt crop diversification, agroforestry and planting basins, respectively, than households with statutory tenure. Descriptive chi-square tests revealed that the implementation of crop diversification and agroforestry is associated with the food security status of smallholder households.

Wetland entrepreneurs: diversity in diversification in Zambian farming

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore enterprise diversification amongst wetland farmers in Zambia as a way of reducing poverty and improving sustainability. This paper identifies ways in which such entrepreneurial activities can be supported and applied more widely.Design/methodology/approachA qualitative study of Zambian farmers, based on a series of workshops and interviews held in Zambia with farmers and farm business advisers.FindingsDespite adopting new technologies most farmers are restricted to the local market where their increased production holds down prices. However, a very small number of farmers are able to progress to production and marketing for markets in major urban centres hundreds of kilometres away, and considerably more are able to use the capital accumulated from wetland farming to diversify their household enterprises to reduce poverty and improve the sustainability and resilience of their livelihoods.Originality/valueNo work has previously been undertaken in diversification strategies of small-scale farmers in Zambia.

Risky resources: Household production, food contamination, and perceptions of aflatoxin exposure among Zambian female farmers

Mycotoxins pose a risk to nutrition security in sub-Saharan Africa, yet research on mycotoxin control pays limited attention to the social context of fungal toxin exposure. In Zambia, groundnuts are considered a “woman's crop,” making women's labor central to groundnut production. However, this status does not ensure women control over the groundnut production process—an important distinction when looking at distribution of labor and resources in the household and its implication for aflatoxin reduction. This article uses semistructured interviews and participatory risk assessment techniques with women farmers to examine the relationship between control over groundnut production, risk perception, and aflatoxin mitigation in Eastern Province, Zambia. Interviews were conducted in July–August 2015 in three districts of Eastern Province and focused on knowledge and perceptions of aflatoxin-producing fungi and food contamination and groundnut production practices. Results from this study indicate that gender disaggregated data on ownership and control over production strategies are important for understanding the mechanisms that create variation in household exposure to aflatoxins. Local perceptions of short- and long-term health influence the relationship between knowledge about aflatoxins and practice. Including the social context of decision making into aflatoxin risk assessment and mitigation helps strengthen intervention efforts.

Allocative and scale efficiency among maize farmers in Zambia: a zero efficiency stochastic frontier approach

ABSTRACTThe commonly used stochastic frontier model assumes that all firms are inefficient. In this specification, inefficiency is non-negative, and the probability of inefficiency being exactly zero is also zero. To the extent that efficiency varies widely across farms in under-developed economies, it is important to employ techniques that account for both inefficiency and full efficiency to ensure unbiased efficiency estimates. In this study, we employ a zero-inefficiency stochastic frontier model to examine allocative efficiency and scale economies, as well as key determinants of efficiency among Zambian maize farmers. The results show that, unlike the stochastic frontier model, the zero-inefficiency stochastic frontier model successfully allows for both fully efficient and inefficient firms to be accounted for in the estimation procedure. The estimates also reveal the presence of scale economies, with the zero-inefficiency stochastic frontier model better predicting scale efficiency compared to the stochastic frontier model. The findings also show that inefficiency is explained by the level of education, access to extension services, distance to markets and access to credit.

Climate-Smart Agriculture Practices in Zambia: An Economic Analysis at Farm Level

Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) would enhance the capacity of farming systems to sustainably support food security in the context of climatic changes. CSA practices may constitute an ex-ante adaptation strategy while also generating environmental benefits in the form of climate change mitigation. However, questions arise about the profitability of CSA systems and the possibility of spontaneous adoption at smallholders level. A spatial assessment of benefits and costs of CSA systems as opposed to conventional ones in different agro ecologies in Zambia is proposed here, including opportunity costs of switching from one system to another. Primary data collected through ad hoc household and community surveys have been used. Zambian farmers adopt a wide combination of land management practices, applied to various crops. Isolating the productivity effect of each single practice was complicated by the adoption of various combinations of practices. To assess the extent to which SLM technology packages improve crop productivity and net incomes of Zambian family farms, Minimum Soil Disturbance (MSD) systems was selected as the main distilling factor to compared with „conventional tillage systems for key food and cash crops (maize, groundnuts and cotton). MSD in arid areas of Zambia has shown promising results in terms of land, capital and labor productivity and could represent valid CSA option providing that appropriate choices in terms of labor source (manual versus animal draft power), specific practice (planting basins/potholes versus ripping, legume inclusion in crop rotations and residue retention), crop (maize versus groundnut) and access to fertilizer subsidies are made. SLM technology options can also generate environmental benefits in the form of CC mitigation. To better understand mitigation potential, marginal abatement costs curve have been computed. Results show that negative marginal abatement costs for all MSD options imply synergies between increased farm incomes and climate change mitigation, and represent means of generating “win-win” solutions to address poverty and food insecurity as well as environmental benefit (climate change mitigation). The cost-effectiveness of different land management practices is proposed as synergetic decision criteria allowing policy makers to prioritize support interventions on the basis of the economic efficiency of GHG abatements.

Consumer preferences for Uapaca kirkiana fruits in Zambia

Zambian farmers and other stakeholders have identified Uapaca kirkiana as a priority indigenous fruit tree species for domestication. Successful domestication of trees depends on understanding and expanding the market demand for tree products. This study aims at creating a better understanding of consumer preferences for U. kirkiana fruit in Zambia. The study was conducted in the Chipata and Ndola districts of Zambia through a process of questionnaire surveys. A total of 188 consumers were consulted regarding their perception and buying behaviour of indigenous fruits. The study reveals that there is a strong demand for the fresh and secondary products of the U. kirkiana fruit in Zambia. Among the six principal reasons for the direct consumption of the fruit is its sweetness and nutritional value. Jam, butter and syrup are the most desired processed products from U. kirkiana fruit.Indigenous fruit marketing in Zambia is mostly informal and at a nascent development stage. Fruit sellers can improve their marketing efforts by considering the demands of consumers. National market development strategies can assist with the promotion of indigenous fruits and also focus on the processing of such fruits.

Physico-chemical qualities of honey harvested from different beehive types in Zambia

Beekeeping is one of the income generating activities in many parts of the rural areas of Zambia and is being promoted by both the government and nongovernmental organizations. The main benefit of beekeeping is the production of honey and beeswax which are valuable sources of income for the small-holder farmers. Honey is a sweet liquid gathered by honey bees from nectar or other secretions of plants which they transform by addition of enzymes and evaporation of water. Beekeeping also plays an important role in protecting the natural environment and gives the communities other economic benefits from the forests as they have a vested interest in protecting trees that are a source for their honey. In the recent past, Zambian farmers involved in this beekeeping have adopted modern bee keeping approaches that involve the use of modern beehives such as the log, mud, standard wood and adjusted wood as opposed to the traditional bark type. In order to ascertain the effect of the beehive type on the quality, honey harvested from these beehives in Kapiri Mposhi area of Zambia was investigated for selected quality characteristics. The investigated parameters included ash, moisture, pH, total soluble solids and soluble sugars. Ash content of the honey is important because it represents its mineral content and forms part of proximate analysis for nutritional evaluation. The ash content ranged from 0.198 and 0.271%, pH 4.26 and 4.44, moisture 14.9 and 16.4%, total soluble solids 83.6 and 85.7% and soluble sugar 81.6 and 83.4%. The findings from the study demonstrated that the beehive type did not have a significant (P > 0.05) effect on all the selected quality characteristics investigated. Furthermore, comparisons of the findings on honey quality characteristics to the guidelines stipulated by the Codex Alimentarius and European Union (EU) standards showed conformity to these standards.

Are Smallholder Zambian Farmers Economists? A Dual-Analysis of Farmers’ Expenditure in Conservation and Conventional Agriculture Systems

This article presents the results of a comparative study on conservation and conventional agriculture among smallholder farmers in Zambia. It shows that conservation agriculture in Zambia, as currently practiced, does not reduce labor required during critical periods of the farming cycle. We argue that smallholder farmer decisions on whether or not to adopt conservation agriculture goes beyond its agronomic and economic superiority over conventional practice. The farmers also consider its labor demands, crops to be grown, and cultural norms. We show that farmers calculate their costs differently from conventional economic analysis. We conclude that promotion of conservation agriculture should be informed by local and contextual factors.

Reversing Agro-Based Land Degradation through Conservation Agriculture: Emerging Experiences from Zambia’s Smallholder Farming Sector

<p>This study reports on the land degradation minimizing effects of Conservation Agriculture (CA) as promoted among smallholder Zambian farmers. It found no evidence of CA associated improvements in soil fertility after five years of CA practice, most probably because crop residues were removed from the fields. The study reports high phosphorus (15.53 mg kg<sup>-1</sup>) and potassium (0.75 cmol kg<sup>-1</sup>) levels, low nitrogen (0.12 %) and organic carbon (1.19 %) levels, and no plough/hoe pans in soils from both CA and conventionally (CV) managed fields. This is in part contrary to the dominant land degradation narratives which have been the basis for promoting CA in the study areas. <em>Faidherbia albida</em>, a leguminous tree promoted as part of the CA package in Zambia, is associated with significantly higher levels of nitrogen, organic carbon and potassium under its canopy. Its planting by CA farmers is linked to the incentives provided by CA promoters. Average maize yields of 3.8 t ha<sup>-1</sup> and 2.8 t ha<sup>-1 </sup>were reported under CA and CV systems respectively. Government subsidies for mineral fertilizer and hybrid seed promote maize mono-cropping and remain unsupportive of CA. It is concluded that the dominant land degradation narrative, which posits population induced land degradation, may not hold in this case. Instead, the removal of crop residues and low levels of mineral fertilizer and manure amendments may better explain the soil fertility status of the study areas. More nutrient replacement strategies are required if the benefits of CA on soil fertility are to be actualized in the immediate future.</p>

Environmental self-efficacy, attitude and behavior among small scale farmers in Zambia

The rural livelihood system in Zambia is essentially agriculture, and agriculture is the main link between people and their environment. Through agricultural activities, people seek to husband the available soil, water and biological resources so as to ‘harvest’ a livelihood for themselves. The aim of this study is to examine Zambian farmers’ awareness and attitude toward the degradation of the environment and their relationships with a set of beliefs to evaluate their perceived capacity to take actions to improve the environment. Results of the study revealed that perception of the severity of environmental degradation had a positive influence on both awareness of and attitude toward land degradation (β = 0.47; p < .001). Perception of susceptibility and benefits significantly influence farmers’ attitude toward environmental degradation (β = 0.51; p < .001). Awareness of environmental degradation is a significant precursor of environmental self-efficacy and behavior (β = 0.38; p < .001). Increasing severity of environmental degradation tends to promote a positive attitude of Zambian farmers toward the environment (β = 0.27; p < .001). Greater awareness of environmental degradation enhances farmers’ capacity in making decisions to improve the situation. Greater environmental awareness leads to greater involvement in land management programs. Greater awareness of the degradation of the environment leads to a more positive environmental behavior. The more individuals are aware of the existence of the degradation of the environment and of its consequences, the more likely they are to do something about it in order to ameliorate the situation (β = 0.36; p < .001). Farmers’ environmental self-efficacy also plays a significant role in their decision to change their behavior. Greater perception of one’s capability to improve the environment is significantly associated with a more positive environmental behavior (β = .39; p < .001).

Information Seeking and Information Providers among Zambian Farmers

Information Seeking and Information Providers among Zambian Farmers