Wed, 14 Feb 2018 10:13:50 +0000 By OLIVER SAMBOKO ZAMBIA, like many other countries in southern Africa experienced a prolonged a dry spell that may negatively affect its food requirement of 1.8 million tones per annum. Last harvesting season, the country produced a record of over 3.6 millions metric tonnes of non genetic maize with about 2 million exported to neighboring countries. The harvest drop to around 50 percent in the current 2017/2018 crop season and this will not only affect Zambia, but also the neighboring countries such as Zimbabwe and Congo who depend on maize imports from Zambia. Last month, the Zambia National Farmers’ Union (ZNFU) said a lot of the maize crop in key production areas had wilted and this was likely to hit the harvest negatively. There are abundant water resources for irrigation and the country has 40 percent of the water in Central and Southern Africa. The agricultural sector continues to […]
