Zambia Agribusiness Society

We all want to make a profit in farming but what matters is the crops that can give us good profit margin and as well as when should those crops be grown. I always tell farmers that all crops can give us good profit for as long as we have timing. Last year I had a conversation with a certain accountant from a certain school in Muchinga province who liked growing maize at all cost. Well I had to give him my views and analysis of few crops for her to get the picture and decide whether to continue growing maize or venture into other crops. Below is my enterprise budget analysis to her and I think it can be of help to you in one way or another. "You see madam, maize is good to grow because the market is always available as it is our stable food but show me one person who failed to grow maize even for his consumption!! It is a crop which we all can grow. In most cases we start the land preparation in November if not October or even September. If we pick October as our starting mont...

Growing sunflowers can be a rewarding and enjoyable experience. These vibrant and cheerful flowers are not only beautiful to look at, but they also attract pollinators and provide food for birds. Whether you have a large garden or a small balcony, you can easily grow sunflowers and enjoy their beauty. In this article, we will guide you through the process of growing sunflowers, from choosing the right variety to harvesting the seeds. Key Takeaways Choose the right sunflower variety based on your preferences and growing conditions. Test the soil and make necessary amendments to ensure optimal growing conditions for sunflowers. Plant sunflower seeds at the appropriate time and provide them with proper care and maintenance. Water and fertilize sunflowers regularly to promote healthy growth and blooming. Protect sunflowers from pests and diseases and harvest the seeds at the right time for optimal flavor and storage. Choosing the Right Sunflower Variety Understanding Different Sunflower V...

Ticks can be identified by direct examination without the use of microscopes or hand lens. Those filled with blood are easier to identify because they are large and also reddish from the consumed blood. To find ticks on your livestock, comb the hairs or feathers to expose and examine the skin directly. Ticks may have preferred attachment sites that protect them to a certain degree from being dislodged by animal grooming. Areas around the head, in the ears, on the shoulders and other parts of the body can harbour attached ticks. On cattle, ticks can be found in highly vascularized areas of the skin (i.e., tail, udder). Unattached ticks can be recovered from the host by combing and examining the comb. It is important to identify the types of ticks attacking your livestock. This is because some ticks carry agents that transmit deadly infections that may wipe out your stock. Find someone knowledgeable or use biological reference manuals for easy identification. Livestock extension of...

Mr Delo Nzila, an organic farmer in Bbombo area of Monze district using Musangu trees and maize stalks to improve fertility of soil in his field. If organic farming is the natural way, shouldn’t organic produce just be called ‘produce’ and make the pesticide laden stuff take the burden of an adjective? Anyways, that is just the way it is… Zambia is a country with a significant population engaged in farming. Our ancestors used efficient methods to do farming, and they were happy in practising farming, but today days have arrived where a farmer does not want his upcoming generation to do farming. Farmer’s suicide has become a major concern. Now, the question arises why our ancestors were prosperous farmers, whereas farmers of today are not. A reason might be climate change, increase in temperature, and so on, but the main reason for farmers’ failure is the type of farming techniques that farmers are using nowadays. The story starts from 1960’s green revolution, the time when the coun...

Unless you know and apply some basic principles, you cannot last in any business and Farming is no exception to that. There is no point in going into any business if we cannot do what it takes to last and be successful in it. 1. Develop the passion Only passion can take you far into any business including farming. Without having the passion, you will not last in farming. Passion is the energy that will drive you to success no matter the difficulty you face. Passion is what will bring you back to farming even when you lose your chickens to Newcastle disease or when predators massacre your whole flock of chickens and worse still when your whole field is wiped with floods, let alone other devastating uncertainties. 2. Be committed to continuous learning You will not go far in farming without wisdom, knowledge and understanding. It is easy to learn these days with so many useful FREE seminars all over the place. You can never learn enough in improving your farming bus...

When you grow your cabbage successfully, you’re guaranteed of a bumper harvest. What’s more is the fact that you can plant cabbages throughout the year. All you need is enough land to rotate your crops as well as disease and pest control and you can enjoy non-stop harvests. Types of Cabbages: There are several varieties of cabbage varieties available varying in size and taste. The larger varieties take a little longer to mature while the smaller varieties usually mature faster. The most common in Zambia is the green cabbage, followed by red cabbage. Not so common are savoy types (curly cabbage) which are tolerant to cold conditions and have deep-wrinkled dark green-leaves. Below are some common cabbages planted according to the time they take to mature: 1.     Golden acer (green cabbage) matures in 65 days and Red express matures in 63 days. These are called early cabbages . Baby cabbages takes approximately 71 days to grow and are called mid-season cabbages . ...

It is easy to understate the importance of soil. It seems benign. It seems inert. But the ground beneath our feet is literally teaming with life – most of it too small for us to see or register as important. But all of it is important and vital to our human life systems. Soil provides the anchor to plant roots. It holds water and nutrients. It is home to micro-organisms and so much more. When we think of soil, we often think of the physical properties of the soil. How big are the particle sizes? Sand is the biggest, silt is a medium size, and clay is the smallest. We think about the water holding capacity. Clay soils have a lot more surface area of the individual particles and so therefore can hold a lot more water than sandy soils. We think of availability of nutrients and soil structure as indicators of healthy soil. But it is these last two that offer a huge level of complexity that we rarely think about. Nutrient availability Whenever a soil is lacking in available nutrient f...