The Ministry of Agriculture, with support from the Food and Agriculture Organization(FAO), has undertaken a training project for extension staff in Nchelenge District on cassava production, pests, and diseases.
The Zambia Agriculture Research Institute (ZARI) Director Ndashe Kapulu says the training programme is aimed at providing support and interventions towards mitigating the impact of Cassava Brown Streak (CBSD) and Cassava Mosaic diseases (CMD) in Zambia.
Speaking during the Technical Co-operation (TCP) training programme on cassava production, pests, and diseases for extension staff in Nchelenge district in Luapula province, Dr Kapulu says the project included the distribution of disease-free cassava planting to 1,000 farmers in Chienge and Kaputa districts.
Dr Kapulu further stated that the project trained farmers and extension officers on cassava production, disease symptom and pest identification and management of CBSD and CMD to assist increase cassava yields from current six tonnes to 20 tonnes per hectare.
“We want to undertake full surveillance for CBSD and CMD in the six cassava producing provinces of Zambia to establish the current extent of spread, incidence and severity of CBSD and CMD in the country,” Dr Kapulu said.
He further stated that the project has led to increased yields from the previous average of six tonnes per hectare to over 20 tons per hectare with distribution of 8,500 disease free cassava bundles to 1,000 farmers.
Nchelenge District Agricultural Co-ordinator Arnold Muimui says cassava yields have been observed to be lower than it used to be in the past. This is due to the presence of cassava diseases and pests present in the district.
Mr Muimui said the training programme on cassava production is imperative because many families in the district depend on cassava for their household incomes, nutrition, food security and other livelihood activities.
“Cassava is an economic and livelihood crop in Nchelenge district from which the leaves are used as vegetables in diets. While, its roots are sold fresh to consumers who eat them as a snack and dried roots are milled into flour which is either sold or stored to be processed into Nshima,” he said.
“It is gratifying that the Food and Agriculture Organization working together with ZARI have put in place remedial measures to remove the constraints that have negatively affected the production of cassava in Chienge, Kaputa and Nchelenge districts,” he stated.
Meanwhile, Zambia Agriculture Research Institute Senior Agriculture Research Officer Mathias Tembo said the project came about due to increased complaints from farmers that their cassava was rotting.
A quick survey was conducted to establish how far the Cassava Brown Streak and Cassava Mosaic diseases had infested the fields which lead to the Food and Agriculture Organization supporting the project with over US$200,000 to assist farmers affected by the CBSD and CMD.
“Our target was to train 10,000 farmers in improved methods of containing and preventing CBSD and CMD so that our farmers do away with old methods of cassava production,” he said.
Mr Tembo further stated that the main objective of this project was to create awareness by training farmers about preventive and management measures for pests and diseases.
He said the training project which recently ended was impactful to farmers and called on the agriculture extension staff involved with the project to continue working hard to reduce the impact of CBSD and CMD.
He further cautioned agriculture extension officers to effectively carry out the skills learnt from the training project adding that if they do not practice these skills in the field, they will forget which means all resources put into this project are wasted.-NAIS
