Agricultural data, crop insights, climate & market analysis
Under the relentless midday sun, 62-year-old Chomba bends over, weeding his maize field, his back protesting with each movement. He’s been farming this land since he was 18, but these days, the work feels heavier. His sons? They left for Lusaka years ago. “Farming is for old men,” they told him.
Chomba isn’t alone. Across Zambia, the faces in the fields are growing older, and fewer young people are stepping in to replace them.
In the 2023/2024 farming season, Zambia’s fields literally felt the burn. A harsh regional drought slashed maize production down to 1.5 million metric tonnes, leaving the country with a heartbreaking deficit of over 2.1 million tonnes. And yet, despite planting more than 2.2 million hectares, the rain just didn’t play along.
With the amount of rain we’ve received lately, you could be looking for a solution to save your farm from waterlogging. You may even have been expecting and praying for high rainfall this season for the proper growth of your crops. But, it seems the blessings are too much for the crops to handle.
Most Zambians have vegetable gardens at home. Did you know that preparing your vegetable garden soil is an important first step to successfully growing your own food? You can’t have healthy, productive veggies without rich soil that allows the roots to grow deep enough to soak up nutrients. Here are a few things you need to do to get your vegetable garden off to a strong start.
Unlike dogs and other domesticated animals, cats will always have a natural wild side. Just because they spend hours lounging beside a sunny window does not mean that cats won’t go after your feathered animals. Hunting is their primary purpose, therefore, cats may well be attracted to the lively frolics that a flock of chickens displays.
Crop rotation is the practice of growing different crops throughout the year, or from one year to the next, in order to improve soil fertility, control pests, and a variety of other benefits. Most small-scale Zambian farmers are seasonal farmers, therefore, do not practice crop rotation. They use pesticides, fertilizers, and herbicides.
You wake up at the crack of dawn to work on your farm, the fall of dusk, every day. The weather also has its own plans and seems to be against you. Sometimes you feel like your buyers have made you their prisoner, and you’re working for nothing. Well, you’re not alone! Even though most … Read more
Soya beans are a type of plant called legumes which have the unique ability to use nitrogen that is in the air. Microorganisms that live on the soya bean roots convert atmospheric nitrogen into a type that the plant can use. The plant then feeds the microorganism. When the plant decays, the nitrogen that has been pulled from the air is released into the soil. Growing soya beans in a field can add about 15 to 20 kgs of nitrogen per acre into the soil. Here are frequently asked questions about soya beans:
Welcome to 2021! We were all hopeful that things would get better, but the pandemic seems to be getting worse. Well, we’re still hopeful and we can’t sit wallowing in self-pity. All we can do is take all the necessary precautions to protect ourselves and those close to us from Covid-19. If you haven’t already, you could start by kicking off the vegetable garden in your backyard that you’ve postponed all these years. Whether you have a small space or a big backyard, having a veggie garden can save you from unnecessary trips to the supermarket.
We all employ people to take some of the workload off our shoulders. However, things don’t always go as planned. That one farm worker who looked very hardworking during the job interview can easily turn into being something the most lazy farm worker.