Zambia Agribusiness Society

In the land of the blind, the one eyed man is king. In the Zambian context it is also true that in the land of the blind, onions will make you cry. It is evidently clear that foreign nationals come into our country and see opportunities where we do not. And we bestow upon them the coveted title of investor. Even when they only came to make sharwamas, grow chickens and import second hand underwear, with all due respect. Our failure to acknowledge and monetize business opportunities is what qualifies us as the land of the blind, and we create one-eyed kings out of the people who see and seize the opportunities in block-making, local trucking, and abattoirs to mention a few. Anyway, let’s talk about onions and tears. As far as I can remember from 2017, onions have been making us cry. According to Knoema , an online data platform, Zambia produced approximately 40,000 tonnes of onion in 2020, we have a peak period between July and the onset of the rains, then after that we have an annual cr

Cabbage (Brassica oleraceae) is one of the most common vegetable on the African table. It’s an all season vegetable always in the market all year round. There’s always a high demand for cabbages on the African market. Farmers have for a long time, grown cabbages on their small farms. Growing cabbages has seen a tremendous increase. Cabbage cultivation has become a business venture where farmers are investing hugely. The only discouraging factor in growing cabbages is the varying prices on the market. Cultivation of cabbage is both done on small-scale and large-scale for business purposes. Many of the small-scale farmers do it targeting the local market in their villages. The large-scale cabbage farmer targets the national market where they transport their yields to the big towns. Cabbage is grown under rain fed and irrigated conditions. Drip irrigation is a highly recommended irrigation technique for the growing of cabbages. A) Tips for Growing Cabbages If you want to grow c

Quail probably the smallest avian species used for production of table eggs and meat. Because of prolific egg production and meat yield, it attains the status of viable commercial poultry enterprises. Quail has unique qualities of hardiness and adaptability to diversified agro-climatic condition. Several attributes of this species making it ideal for rural poultry production for creation of rural employment, for solving gender issue in employment and to provide supplemental income and protein requirement to rural farmers. Salient features of quail: ·        Low space requirement (5 - 6 adult quail can be reared in one sq. ft.) ·        Short generation interval (3 - 4 generation in a year) ·        Fast growth (170 - 190gm body weight at 5 th week) ·        Low feed consumption (550 - 600gm of feed/ bird up to 5 th week) ·        Early maturity (egg production starts at 6 - 7 weeks of age) ·        High rate of egg laying (280 eggs in a year/ bird) ·        Low cost o