A farmer walks through a field of maize near Chikuni in the south of Zambia on Feb. 21, 2015. (Photo: Reuters/Darrin Zammit Lupi)

U.S. farming body, Zambian firm partner aim to boost crop yields

Country rebuilding drought-battered ag sector

Lusaka | Reuters — A U.S. non-profit organization has launched a US$40 million joint venture with one of Zambia’s top farm suppliers to boost crop yields and food security as farmers struggle to access finance amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the local company said on Sunday. The chairman of African Green Resources (AGR), Zuneid Yousuf, said

VIDEO: Overland through Zambia

VIDEO: Overland through Zambia

In 2015, Manitoba Co-operator Shannon VanRaes travelled to Zambia with the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists to see first hand the challenges and opportunities facing agriculture in the landlocked African nation. From dusty roads, to bustling cities, crocodile to dairy farms, irrigation and Victoria Falls, get a glimpse of what farming looks like in Zambia,


Red River Valley grain farmer Art Enns is impressed by the work of two small schools in Zambia to teach young people to be farmers and gardeners, so he’s decided to donate the proceeds from 35 acres of an oat crop to help support the school program.

Farmer’s oat crop donated to support ag training in Zambia

Art Enns wants more people to hear about the work being done by the Manyinga Project to give 
young Zambians a good education while also training them to farm and garden

When Art Enns looks back on his own life in farming, he knows how valuable it was to learn skills he needed working alongside his father. Now he’s doing what he can to help children in a far-off land who don’t have parents to teach them. Losing parents early in life in a country like

Jethro Hamakoko breeds Brahman cattle on a small ranch about an hour outside of the Zambian capital of Lusaka.

Zambian herd grows, despite ticks, poachers

While not without challenges, some farmers forced out of Zimbabwe 
have found a home ranching in Zambia

Quietly, after the bulk of journalists has moved on to other things, Graham Rae describes the situation as 15 to one. That is 15 poachers and one security guard shot so far. On a still morning near the central Zambian town of Chisamba, it’s hard to imagine, but cattle rustling is a major problem for

A farm employee pulls out cornstalks on an 18-hectare operation owned by a retired educator near Livingstone.  hotos: Shannon VanRaes

A mix of pragmatism and fear keeps GMOs out of Zambia

While the debate over GMO labelling continues in North America, Zambians take it for granted that they aren’t consuming products made with genetically modified ingredients

In Zambia, it’s practically everywhere. Maize is in tiny garden plots, on small farms, huge estates, in markets and on dinner plates. Since its introduction to Africa by the Portuguese in the 16th century, maize has become the main staple crop in this region. Two megalithic-size cobs even flank the entrance to the Zambia National


Betty Tembo

Increasing food security and nutrition

More families are eating better food more often

Who would have thought cooking could be so tasty — oh, and nutritious too? As we sat in the shade of a tree outside the Tiyanjane Co-op Society Ltd., members of the cooking subgroup explained through an interpreter how they once looked upon soybeans as a cash crop, not something they could eat. Now they

young African girl

In Zambia, investing in farmers keeps kids in school

Families who see improved yields under conservation agriculture use the extra income to pay school fees

Juliette, the eldest daughter of Olipa Tembo and her husband Dickson Nkata, came home from school early one day. She was crying. The child, who would have been about eight at the time, had walked the four kilometres to the local school, only to have the teacher promptly send her home again. The family had

Subsidies, New Methods Lift Zambian Farm Yields

Peasant farmer Joseph Mhlanga proudly points to the pile of maize or corncobs in his modest house: a good crop for him that is part of Zambia’s bumper harvest this year. “This is my maize from this year. I plan to start shelling it soon,” said Mhlanga, a spry 76-year-old retired schoolteacher who farms a


Zambia Widens Fertilizer Aid To Small Farmers

Zambia has more than doubled to 500,000 the number of small-scale farmers to receive subsidized fertilizer this year in efforts to boost white maize output. The state-run Zanis news agency said Aug. 24 that President Rupiah Banda also announced that the government had increased to 100,000 tonnes, from 80,000 tonnes, the amount of fertilizer to

Zambia looks to diversify

Zambia is completing a model farm meant to encourage economic diversification from copper and cobalt mining to agriculture, Finance Minister Situmbeko Musokotwane said on Feb. 2. The 155,000-hectre Nansanga farm will be ready for foreign and local investors this year as the country pushes to grow more export crops to reduce dependency of copper exports,