Zambia Agribusiness Society

Pumpkins are a one season vegetable belonging to the genus Cucurbita. The ground fruit grows on vines and is mainly grown for its culinary climate. Varieties of Pumpkins: Sweet cream Onziga Anderina Sugar pie Soil Requirement for Growing Pumpkins: Pumpkins do well in loamy soils with a good drainage and a high humus percentage. The Soil should not be water logged as the plant can easily lot off. How to Propagate Pumpkins on Your Farm: Grow your pumpkins from seeds. They should take about five days from sowing to emerge. How to Plant Pumpkins: It’s best to plant your pumpkins on moulds through over a flat surface can work. Plant seeds one inch deep at a rate of four -five seeds per hill and five-six feet between hills. When seedling are well established thine each hill to leave at most 2 plants per hill. Go ahead to space left between hills and 8ft between 10cm. Prune vine early in the season to discourage random growth and out of control patch. Keep pumpkin plants

Do you run a poultry farm business and you want to scale or diversify? If YES, here are top 10 tips for growing or expanding your poultry farm business. Poultry farming is profitable alright, but a lot of people still fail and incur lots of losses in this business all the same. Poultry farming has been in existence for ages and while some people have smiled to the bank and expanded their businesses, a lot of investors have blamed themselves for going into this business. I always remind people that no business is easy. There is always the risk of failure in any business. Even if it is just selling candies; if you do not do it right, you cannot succeed at it. Also, I always remind people that every business has its ‘trade secrets’ and a lot of people fail in business because they do not know the trade secrets of their business. Poultry, just like any other business out there has its trade secrets which you have to know to increase your chances at success. Some of the trade secrets

Our discussion continues… “I think we should talk about the hybrid varieties not tengeru," she suggested. "That's OK madam we can do that," I replied. "Let’s focus on budgeting for you to prepare yourself and see how much you need. We will do our budget in a field of 1 Lima (50m × 50m). We will do a spacing of 1.5m from one line to the other and 0.5m from 1 plant to another. So in one line of 50m we will have 100 plants (2 plants/metre) and we will have 33 lines (50 metres divide it by 1.5 metres from one line to another). So in a Lima we will have 100 × 33 = 3, 300 plants. Ok hope you are following." "Now the second stage is to know the cost of a seedling per plant. Let us put a plant at K2 each. 3, 300 x K2 = K6, 600. You have prepared your land and planted. Give a space of 4 days then thereafter apply your basal-dressing at 15 grams per plant. So you need 50kg as basal in 3, 300 plants. Apply top-dressing in the intervals of 14 days at 5

Dr. Obakeng Mfikwe, the founder of Lekatu Simbras & Simmentalers stud, hung up his stethoscope in 2010 to establish a successful commercial mixed-farming operation in Lichtenburg and Magaliesburg, under the name of KMF Farm Holdings. Lekatu Simbras & Simmentalers has won numerous awards and has dominated shows across the country. Owner Obakeng Mfikwe, a medical doctor who took early retirement, believes that by setting big goals you might miss them – but if you don’t set them, it is almost guaranteed you won’t reach them. For him, the goal is building an integrated meat enterprise to supply local and international markets. KMF Farm Holdings runs its mixed-farming operations on five farms totalling 2, 894ha; four in Lichtenburg, North West, and one in Magaliesburg, on the border between Gauteng and North West. The mixed operations include a 172, 000-per-cycle broiler production, 350 Simbra, Simmentaler and Black Angus stud breeding cows, and 1, 152ha for grain production. On t

Never, put your bananas in the refrigerator!!! After reading this, you'll never look at a banana in the same way again. Bananas contain three natural sugars - sucrose, fructose and glucose combined with fibre. A banana gives an instant, sustained and substantial boost of energy. Research has proven that just two bananas provide enough energy for a strenuous 90-minute workout. No wonder the banana is the number one fruit with the world's leading athletes. But energy isn't the only way a banana can help us keep fit. It can also help overcome or prevent a substantial number of illnesses and conditions, making it a must add to our daily diet. 1. Depression: According to a recent survey undertaken on minds amongst people suffering from depression, many felt much better after eating a banana. This is because bananas contain tryptophan, a type of protein that the body converts into serotonin, known to make you relax, improve your mood and generally make you feel happie

Direct sowed watermelon germinating strongly with only a single light drink 1. Deep plough with a tractor. 2. Make planting stations of depth 20cm. 3. Put heaped shovel of well rotten manure of either cattle, poultry, pig or goat. 4. Put 60g of Compound C on each planting station and mix with the  manure   and soil within the planting station. 5. Put the soil to almost level of the planting hole. 6. Irrigate to field capacity on each planting hole. The following day plant 3 plants on each planting station. 7 . Do a light irrigation regularly until there's good germination. Check Cutworm effect on young seedlings and if any, spray any one of the following insecticides: Decis forte, Chloroprifos, Lambda. For me, l prefer Decis forte since it is persistent in the soil compared to other insecticides. After 7 days of seedlings emergence, remove one seedling per planting station leaving two seedlings per planting station. 8. 2 weeks after germination, top dress with AN (34.5% N) 5

The surge in the growth of the human population and their ever-increasing demands present several challenges for aquafeed and aquaculture industries. At the current rate of population and demographics, we need to double food production over the next two decades. Thus, the demand for aquaculture will surely increase in the future, which in turn, fuels the growth of the aquafeed industry. According to Allied Market Research, the global aquafeed market is expected to reach $131.92 billion by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 5.6% from 2021 to 2030. Increase in fish and seafood consumption, growth of the aquaculture industry, and availability and flexibility in the use of alternative raw materials drive the market growth. With the rapid intensification, the consumption of fishmeal and fish oil has doubled over the past decade in the global aquaculture industry. However, the limited availability of sources of aquafeed and high prices trouble the market players in the aquafeed market. Moreove