HAPPY MULOLANI
EASTERN and Southern Africa Small Scale Farmers’ Forum (ESAFF) Zambia has appealed to Government to consider prioritising soil testing to enable farmers increase food production.
School of Agricultural Sciences at The University of Zambia (UNZA) Elias Kuntashula says the costs associated with soil testing is high due to costs of materials to enable them test the soils in a bid to enhance production.
Professor Kuntashula advised farmers that they are soil testing centres in all the 10 provinces of the country which caters for the farmers needs to know the soil types.
He said that in the olden days, there used to be chats which indicated soils types as a way of advising farmers what type of crops to cultivate which is no longer the case now.
A farmer from Monze, Borniface Haangala says a lot of awareness meetings need to be conducted to ensure more farmers test and know their soil types if production is to be enhanced.
This came to light in Lusaka today during a dialogue meeting on Social Accountability and the formation of a Public Resource Management and Budget Performance Learning Platform for Non-State Actors in the Agriculture Sector.-NAIS
