(HERALD ZW) Kasukuwere hails organic farming | The Herald
Agriculture Reporter
Farmers should embrace Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) to boost agricultural production and overcome poverty, the Minister of Environment, Water and Climate, Cde Saviour Kasukuwere, has said.
Minister Kasukuwere said this while officiating at the
Makoni Organic Farmers Association (MOFA) Equator Initiative Award ceremony held at Chiundu High School in Rusape last Friday.
The association was awarded the UNDP Global Equator Prize for 2014 during a ceremony held in Lincoln Centre in New York in September last year.
The Equator Prize is awarded biennially to recognise and advance local sustainable development solutions for people, nature and resilient communities.
Cde Kasukuwere said indigenous people had their peculiar knowledge systems that conserved the environment.
“We had our own traditional values and norms that guided us in preserving natural resources. These should have been documented for use by the future generation.
“If we rely on our IKS, we will never go wrong, we should research and record the indigenous knowledge,” he said.
Cde Kasukuwere said people should learn from the elderly people and follow their ways.
“If we can embrace and scale up initiatives such as organic farming and other sustainable environmental management activities, this will lead to building resilience in vulnerable communities and promote sustainable development,” he said.
He commended the Makoni organic association for using organic methods in crop production as this was healthy and cheaper since the method relied on locally available resources.
“This is a clean way of producing food. Some of the chemicals used in crop production have detrimental effects on human health.
“I urge you to protect the rivers and forests and diversify your operations. You have a reliable water source and you should diversify into fish production to increase income,” he said.
UNDP Resident Representative Mr Bishow Parajuli emphasised MOFA’s contribution to sustainable development through community empowerment and participation, environmental sustainability, gender and health mainstreaming as well as inclusive participation by youth and local communities.
“This is in line with the new UNDP Strategic Plan that stresses the need to find ways of fighting poverty and inequality, deepening inclusion and reducing conflict, without inflicting irreversible damage on environmental systems, including the climate, ” he said.
MOFA chairperson Mrs Tamari Chipanga said the lives of the farmers in the area had greatly improved due to the project of organic farming.
“We rely on natural resources and produce healthy foods for our families. We used to have kitchen gardens but we have increased production and we are now supplying local markets with our produce.
“We have plenty of water but we have a challenge of harnessing it,” she said.
Labels: AGRICULTURE, BISHOW PARAJULI, LAND REFORM, ORGANICS, SAVIOUR KASUKUWERE, SOVEREIGNTY
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(STICKY) (VOICES OF AFRICA) Organic farm in Benin looks to set example for Africa
Posted on: June 24, 2014
Posted in: Business, Lifestyle
Comments: 1 Comment
With his pilgrim’s staff and panama hat, Father Godfrey Nzamujo nips up and down the paths of Songhai, the organic farm he created nearly 30 years ago to fight poverty and rural migration in Africa.
The small farm covered barely a hectare when it was set up in Porto Novo in 1985 but has since become a pilot project for the rest of the continent badly in need of new ideas to maximise yields.
The centre in Benin’s capital now stretches over 24 hectares and employs an army of workers and apprentices, who toil from sunrise to sunset growing fruit, vegetables and rice, as well as rearing fish, pigs, poultry.
“Nothing is wasted, everything is transformed” according to Nzamujo’s principle, with even chicken droppings turned into the bio-gas that powers the centre’s kitchens.
Father Godfrey Nzamujo, director of the organic farm Centre Songhai. (Pic: AFP)
Songhai in tiny Benin has big plans for Africa. It already has similar operations in Nigeria, Liberia and Sierra Leone and wants to set up shop in 13 more west and central African countries.
Nzamujo’s raison d’etre is how to help Africans increase yields through simple techniques, without using pesticides or fertilizers, and while cutting production costs and protecting the environment.
The Nigeria-born priest, who was raised in California on the US west coast, said he was shocked by the appalling images of famine in Africa on television at the start of the 1980s.
He then left to discover the continent to see how he could put to good use his university training in agronomics, economics and information technology and fight against poverty on his own terms.
How it began
After visiting a number of countries, he ended up in Benin where the country’s then-Marxist government gave him a small plot.
“It was abandoned land, killed by chemical fertiliser and conventional agricultural practices. It didn’t work,” he told AFP.
“There were seven of us. We dug wells and watered with our own hands. And during the main dry season, this grey surface became green,” he recalled with a smile.
Nzamujo’s secret is in imitating nature, encouraging “good bacteria” present in the soil to maximise production without having to rely on chemicals.
Yields at Songhai speak for themselves: the farm produces seven tonnes of rice per hectare three times a year, up from one tonne per hectare once a year at the beginning of the project.
“Songhai is facing up to the triple challenge of Africa today: poverty, environment and youth employment,” said Nzamujo proudly.
The cleric’s system centres on local production and distribution, creating economic activity to tackle poverty head on.
At Songhai, jam simmers in large pots while chickens are roasted and soya oil, rice and fruit juice are packaged for sale in the centre’s shop or served at its restaurant.
Discarded parts of agricultural machinery are reused to create ingenious contraptions and used water is filtered using water hyacinths.
A man wheels coconuts in a wheelbarrow at the Centre Songhai. (Pic: AFP)
The centre also has an internet point and even a bank so that local people can avoid going into the city centre.
Youth employment is encouraged and some 400 farm apprentices – selected by competition – are trained every year. The 18-month course is entirely free.
Apprentices, interns
Paul Okou is one of them. The 25-year-old from Parakou, northern Benin, would like to follow his parents into farming but is hoping to work in a more profitable way.
“My parents use traditional, archaic methods while at Songhai we learn the modern way, albeit makeshift,” he said.
“What we used to do in two days now we do in two hours.”
The apprentices are sent into villages where they apply what they have learned. Once in charge of a farm, they join the Songhai network and are checked regularly.
Songhai also welcomes interns who are paying for their own training.
They include Abua Eucharia Nchinor, a Nigerian in his 30s, and Kemajou Nathanael, a 39-year-old former salesman from Cameroon, who both want to open an organic farm in their respective countries.
According to Nzamujo, Songhai is not a cure-all for Africa’s problems but tackles their root causes.
“Imagine if all the young people who hang around big cities did their training here and we equip them. … Imagine the productivity of Africa today.” he said.
Cecile de Comarmond for AFP
One Response to “Organic farm in Benin looks to set example for Africa”
1.
Nkgephu Martins Langa #
I am a pro-organic farmer from South Africa, i will like to communicate withFather Godfrey Nzamujo , please provide me with his website or email address.
Best regards,
Martin
June 25, 2014 at 2:32 pm Reply
Labels: AGRICULTURE, DEVELOPMENT, ORGANICS
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Paraquat herbicide faces ban
Friday, 18 January 2013 00:00
Senior Agriculture Reporter
ZIMBABWE will work towards exhausting all stocks of the paraquat herbicide in line with China’s research findings that the chemical is highly toxic and therefore unsuitable for continued use.
Principal director in the Department of Research and Specialist Services, Mrs Danisile Hikwa, said although China’s research findings had not been officially communicated to all countries, it was critical for the country to take a cue and phase the chemical out.
The Chinese government announced that the country would halt all production and use of liquid paraquat by 2016 after Chinese researcher Sun Jing and other members of the Pesticide Eco-Alternatives Centre in China learned that local farmers were mysteriously falling ill and dying from effects of the chemical.
Sun suspected this had something to do with the herbicide paraquat that farmers were using. The farmers had no idea what a deadly chemical they were handling every day.
Paraquat is an acutely toxic weed killer. The chemical destroys green plant tissue on contact and is also toxic to animals. Direct contact on the skin causes death. Long-term exposure can result in Parkinson’s disease and skin cancer.
China is the world’s largest producer of paraquat, manufacturing 100 000 tonnes per year. Sun and her colleagues researched the chemical.
“If there is information like that coming from China, it will soon be shared so that we look for alternative chemicals to use in weed control without endangering the lives of the farmers, biodiversity and other plants. Paraquat is not a selective herbicide and kills everything in its path on contact.
“It should not be a problem when it is phased out. We will just look for alternatives. There are conventions guiding the use of chemicals and Zimbabwe has ratified some of them so we have to conform.
The Rotterdam Convention for instance, which regulates the trade of chemicals and the Stockholm Convention that is concerned with the disposal of chemicals are some of the conventions to which Zimbabwe is a signatory and has to abide,” said Mrs Hikwa.
She said it was now the prerogative of different countries either to stop the use of the chemical at once or to phase it out gradually.
“There are stocks of the chemical in the custody of farmers out there and it will take time for all of them to be exhausted so we shall see how it goes before we can even think of setting our own deadline for the total ban of the chemical,” she said.
Mrs Hikwa said paraquat was part of the chemicals that bear the purple label and were dangerous and traditionally not allowed to be handled by smallholder farmers without supervision from trained personnel.
Other chemicals the country banned because of their high toxicity include methylbromide and dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane (DDT). Mrs Hikwa’s comments come in the wake of reports that several years ago, Global Greengrants Fund supported their work from the beginning and sustained it over several years.
Labels: ORGANICS, PARAQUAT
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Permaculture, the way to go
Saturday, 07 July 2012 19:39
Garikai Mazara
A casual visitor who is not inquisitive will leave the premises of Nyandoro Primary School assuming the head, staff and pupils do not know the meaning of being neat and that their school needs some sprucing up and thorough cleaning.
The curious one will probably ask the authorities why the school has so much dirt.
However, it only takes an observant person to notice that upon entering the schoolyard, there is a prominent sign warmly welcoming visitors to the “home of permaculture”, a form of conservative agriculture that the school has proudly undertaken since 2003.
“Permaculture,” explained Jefred Madzvanya, who heads the permaculture department at the school, “is a short form for permanent, sustainable agriculture, where emphasis is on conservation, the use of zero tillage, with the aid of organic material, without any use, whatsoever, of chemicals.
“The idea is to produce healthy food products that are chemical-free as research has proved that most of the diseases these days are a result of the chemicals that we use to produce our food.”
So it is quite possible that a visitor, upon entering the schoolyard, might get the impression that the school and its authorities are not cleaning the yard that is filled with cut thatching grass and, in some instances, dry maize stalks, which form a sort of “carpet” to the whole premises. In permaculture terms, the whole yard is mulched.
“After the rainy season, we usually harvest the mulch that you see today as this cut thatching grass, but by the next season it would be manure. Together with the manure we get from the piggery section, we use this for dry-land maize crop, food forest and nutrition garden,” said Mr Madzvanya.
“In common parlance, a food forest is your orchard, whereas the nutrition garden is basically your everyday garden, the difference being this one aims to produce high-nutrition food and the mandala bedding is designed so as so save and retain moisture.”
Now almost a decade old, it has not been smooth sailing for Nyandoro since permaculture was introduced in 2003.
Mr Madzvanya said it took the parents a long time to embrace the idea, but added that it was pleasing to note that villagers in areas such as Kabvunye and Hwenda had now embraced the practice at their homes.
“Some have adopted herbariums, as they are very beneficial, especially with most of the common ailments.”
Permaculture at Nyandoro has also seen the introduction of a herbarium, which contains a variety of species, among them peppermint, lemon grass, wormwood and basil bushes. Besides the intention to harvest manure at the end of the mulching season, could there be any other desirable motive behind keeping the grounds of the school in a not-so-eye-catching state?
Investigations revealed that because of the mulch, sunlight does not directly hit the ground which, in turn, helps increase the water-holding capacity.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation, 130 000 farmers in the country are already implementing conservation agriculture without any input support.
Zimbabwe is targeting 500 000 farmers to practise conservation agriculture on over 250 000 hectares by 2015.
Born out of the brains of Bill Mollison, an Australian permanent agriculturalist, Nyandoro School tops the permaculture practice in Mashonaland Central.
However, permaculture sounds like a project made in heaven but it has its pitfalls, chief among them is the danger of fire outbreaks. But the school has a fireguard around it and a 2 000-litre water tank on standby in the event a fire breaks out.
For a school that has produced a number of prominent Zimbabweans like the late veteran journalist Bornwell Chakaodza, former CEO of Air Zimbabwe Peter Chikumba, businessman and farmer John Sixpence, agronomist Herbert Chakanyuka and academic Richard Dzvukamanja, Nyandoro is renowned in Guruve district not only for its excellence in permaculture but also academically.
Labels: ORGANICS
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Call for African govts to embrace organic agriculture
Saturday, 05 May 2012 19:07
Emilia Zindi
in LUSAKA, Zambia
African governments have been called upon to embrace organic agriculture instead of conventional farming as climate change continues to ruin livelihoods due to food shortages.
Organic agriculture is the farming method which is in harmony with nature for social justice and economic development in a sustainable environment where all elements of nature, whether living or non-living, co-exist without the fear of one endangering the existence of the other.
The call was made at the second African Organic Conference held in Lusaka under the theme “Mainstreaming Organic Agriculture in the African Development Agenda.”
Speaker after speaker emphasised the need for countries, especially those in Africa, to seriously consider diverting their attention from conventional agriculture to organic farming as climate change takes its toll.
First to address the more than 300 delegates was chief executive officer of Organic Producers and Processors’ Association of Zambia Mr Mushimbwe Chitalu, who said that it was clear from the creation of mankind that Africans understood well the practice of organic farming which they practised throughout as their way of life.
Mr Chitalu traced back traditional farming methods practised in Tanzania in an area known as Ukara Island.
He said in this area, which measured 80 square kilometres in extent, lived a population of 17 000 inhabitants with each household owning 2,5 hectares of land.
“This is ubuntu. It embodies a culture of precaution which today is reigning against the pride of the so-called civilised and educated who seem now to agree with us Africans that genetic modified materials could have serious social and environmental consequences that would be difficult to address,” he said.
Speaking at the same occasion, Zambian Minister of Agriculture and Livestock Mr Emmanuel Chenda said organic agriculture was one of the best practices in ensuring environmental sustainability as it sustains the fertility of soils, ecosystems and the health of people.
It relies on locally adapted improved ecological processes and cycles as well as natural biodiversity rather than the use of synthetic inputs and genetically modified materials.
He said the number of farmers practising organic farming in his country had tremendously increased from 300 to 60 000 while in Nigeria former head of state Mr Abdulsalami Abubakar had put in practice organic farming to encourage his people with 400 hectares of land under organic farming in his country.
The largest gains from organic agriculture arise from the savings on the damages to public health and the environment estimated at more than US$59,6 billion a year in the United States.
Another is the issue of food security as organic farming retains more nutrients, organic carbon and moisture in the soil, all of which make organic crops more able to withstand climatic stress.
The practice of organic agriculture on a large scale requires strong government commitment and support as well as policy changes that encourage a global shift.
Labels: GMOS, ORGANICS
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COMMENT - NGO's provide chemicals and knapsack sprayers? There are many ways to combat the larvae/caterpilars of this moth, including BT (Bacterium Thuringiensis), worm castings tea, neem oil (sprayed on, in the patch where the infestation is found and around it; or as a soil drench to make plants unappetizing to biting insects), use chickens which love to feed off grubs, or just interplant herbs and small flowering plants among the cotton plants, which will provide a habitat for a host of natural predators.
From Planet Natural: " Armyworm Control: Outbreaks of this pest are not common because they have many natural predators. Use pheromone traps to determine the main flight period for moths, then release trichogramma wasps to parasitize the newly laid eggs. Beneficial insects, such as lacewing, ladybugs, and minute pirate bugs feed on armyworm eggs, as well as the young larval stage. "
Ignorance affects armyworm control
Saturday, 24 December 2011 00:00
Agriculture Reporter
THE Plant Protection Institute says lack of knowledge on forecasting and management of armyworm, which attacks maize, is affecting ongoing efforts to control the pest.
Some farmers still have difficulties in identifying armyworm.
This has resulted in many farmers failing to inform the responsible authorities on time while others use wrong methods to control the pests.
PPI director Dr Godfrey Chikwenhere said his department had dispatched teams to areas that are prone to armyworm attacks and affected areas to assist farmers.
"The teams are carrying with them posters and pamphlets to educate farmers about the pest," he said.
Dr Chikwenhere, however, could not give the hectarage of crops that have been destroyed so far as the teams are still assessing the extent of damage.
Some farmers in Chegutu complained that their Agritex officers were giving them inadequate Carbarly to spray the pest.
Dr Chikwenhere advised farmers not to panic, saying the department has enough chemicals in stock.
In Chegutu some farmers ended up using herbicides while others used cotton pesticides to spray armyworm although this was not effective.
Last year, Government unveiled US$60 000 for armyworm control.
The department also receives assistance from the Food and Agriculture Organisation each year.
FAO usually provides chemicals and knapsack sprayers, which are distributed by the PPI to extension workers and farmers.
Dr Chikwenhere advised farmers, especially those in warm areas with a maize crop at knee level and below, to always inspect their crops for armyworm attacks.
Armyworm usually feeds on tender crops and pastures.
The pest also favours warm wet conditions and as long as these continue, the country will continue to be affected by armyworm.
Adult moths are carried by wind or rain, which is the main cause of the spread of armyworm.
The pest can move for very long distances in a short period because it is carried by wind.
Labels: AGRICULTURE, ORGANICS
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Oasis in the heart of Mberengwa
Saturday, 10 September 2011 23:36 Agriculture
By Emilia Zindi recently in Mberengwa
MBERENGWA district is a drought-prone area. In previous dry seasons, when temperatures soared and the land was parched, animals and villagers alike panted for water, hoping every drop they found would sustain them for another day.
But December 2010 changed this story of despair. Like industrious ants labouring for a common cause, 35 families under Chief Maziwofa’s realm teamed up to construct a dam. Today, the area is indeed an oasis in the heart of dryness as the villagers now harvest fresh produce from a thriving irrigation scheme.
“This area is prone to drought. As you can see, the rivers are all dry,” said Mr Misheck Maidza, a beneficiary.
“The situation was desperate, but life has changed since the construction of the dam.”
The Musuki Irrigation Scheme covers an area of 10 hectares. The villagers came together to clear a bushy area where they constructed the dam with the assistance of a non-governmental organisation.
There is no trace of the drought of previous seasons. The wide variety of crops grown at the scheme bears testimony to the community’s sheer determination to change its dire circumstances.
From a position of disadvantage, the villagers are now empowered and are able to pay their children’s school fees, purchase household goods and provide for their respective families.
Mr Tendai Machokoto said: “We spend the whole day working here. We only go home after all the work is done.”
Each family has 60 beds on the plot where different crops such as tomatoes, cabbages, onions, and maize are grown.
Individuals are free to sell their produce and pocket the money, but when there is an outbreak of a disease, the villagers pool their resources.
“Under such circumstances, we contribute money to buy the chemicals so that the whole area is sprayed to prevent the spread of the disease,’’ said another beneficiary, Mrs Toendepi Kazunga.
The scheme is unique, as it is not powered by electricity. The dam was constructed on a gradient to allow the free flow of water into canals that feed into the nearby gardens.
A non-governmental organisation chipped in with resources such as cement for the construction of the canals and toilets.
The system allows water to flow from the dam down into the canals.
Interestingly, the villagers have not bothered to use artificial fertiliser as they depend on organic manure from their livestock. The manure is ferried in scotchcarts from their homes, about nine kilometres away.
With the help of local agronomists who visit them weekly, crop rotation has become their number one priority. This method helps them achieve high yields per hectare.
Green maize, which they expect to start selling in November, grows rapidly.
An agronomist who is assisting them, Mr Elliot Makunike, said Mberengwa district was synonymous with hunger owing to low rainfall.
He said it was, however, possible to start success-ful farming ventures, courtesy of the irrigation scheme.
“We have shown those who do not live here that the area can be turned into a ‘green yard’ all-year-round if water is available,’’ he said.
He called on the responsible authorities to replicate the model in other areas.
“This is a unique scheme. We do not use electricity for sprinklers or pumps.’’
Labels: IRRIGATION, ORGANICS
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Lumuno Organic Farms clinches deal with Dutch firm
TIME PUBLISHED - Tuesday, April 26, 2011, 8:28 am
LUMUNO Organic Farms has entered into an agreement with Millet Place Company of Holland to grow teff which will be exported to Holland. Teff is an African whole grain, native to the arid lands of Ethiopia and it is both drought and flood resistant, making it the preferred crop for harsh environments.
Lumuno director Khama Mbewe said teff has a high nutritional value and is more profitable.
“We have entered into an agreement with Millet Place Company of Holland to grow teff which will be exported to Holland after harvest and we are currently carrying out trials for three months to see how the seed will adapt to Zambia,” he said.
He said if the trial of teff is successful, the firm will engage small-scale out-grower farmers to grow it and later buy it from them after harvest.
Mr Mbewe said the company has signed a five-year contract with the Millet Place company and that it’s the first time that it is being grown in central Africa.
He said the crop is easier to grow and that it is in the millet family of crops and the firm wants to introduce this new cash crop so that it helps to reduce the depence on maize as one of the major cash crops.
Labels: AGRICULTURE, ORGANICS
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New Fertiliser plant to open in Kapiri-Mposhi district next month.
Wednesday, January 19, 2011, 20:00
A 27 million US Dollar Organic Liquid Fertilizer plant is set for construction in Kapiri-Mposhi district next month. The Agri-Bio Tech Fertilizer Plant is a joint venture between the Russian and Zambian private Sector.
Russian Ambassador to Zambia Boris Malakhov says the plant will produce organic fertilizer which will also be exported to neighbouring countries. Ambassador Malakhov says the Russian Private Sector has pumped in 20 Million US Dollars into the project.
Mr Malakhov says the plant will also provide job opportunities for the local people. Ambassador Malakhov was speaking in an interview in Lusaka today – Wednesday.
Meanwhile a senior officer in the Ministry of Agriculture says plans are underway for the Zambian Government to import improved Goat and Sheep breed from South Africa.
Principal Livestock Production Research Officer for Southern Province Dr Chibwe Kaoma has disclosed in an interview in Sinazongwe that about 400 improved goats and sheep will be imported.
This is part of efforts to restock the newly built goat breeding Centre in Sinazongwe District in Southern Province.
Dr. Kaoma says Sinazongwe district is ideal for livestock production because it experiences few livestock diseases.
He says the goat breeding centre, which is situated in Senior Chief Mweemba’s area, will be upgraded into a cattle breeding centre.
Dr. Kaoma has thanked Government for funding the goat breeding project.
About K300 million was used to build the first phase of the goat breeding centre.
ZNBC
Labels: FERTILIZER, ORGANICS
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COMMENT - Neem oil can actually be used as a completely non-toxic (to humans, pets, livestock and beneficial predatory insects) pesticide. It has thousands of years of human use to prove it's safety - people actually put it on their face, wash with it, etc. Add
untreated strips of weeds and herbs among your crops as a preferred food source for your crop's pests, and your actual crop can be pretty much disease and pest free.
Neem - The cure-all tree
By Sunday Health Session: with Kim Otteby
Sun 26 Sep. 2010, 04:01 CAT
NEEM is a wonderful tree with many therapeutic properties that are getting more and more recognition worldwide. What’s more, this amazing tree grows here in Zambia. This week I have asked Elias Tembo from Mount Makulu Research Station to share with us his knowledge on Neem. Elias Tembo has spent his life researching Zambian herbs and is an expert on Zambian Herbal Medicine.
Tembo: Neem is actually the common name for
Azadirachta indica. For centuries the importance of neem has been established in India through their traditional Aryuvedic form of healing, but the knowledge of its uses were initially limited only to villages. Now however, this knowledge has spread and continues to do so as modern science validates many of the traditional claims with regards to the wonderful health benefits that neem has to offer humankind.
Traditionally, a neem tree was always grown in almost every Indian village in order to prevent disease. It was the common custom for each person to eat 5-10 leaves on an empty stomach for 15 days (from the end of winter till the start of the summer season) and that this would then prevent them from getting various diseases throughout the rest of the year.
But not only was Neem used to prevent disease. Indeed every part of the tree was used for various purposes such as for fertilising the soil, insect repellent, insecticide, animal fodder, dye, wax, fuel, lubricant soap, mouth wash hygiene product and so on.
Recently however, most of the research has concentrated more on its pharmacological properties in relation to health and disease. Its effectiveness as an anti-microbial (natural antibiotic), anti-inflammatory, anti-rheumatic, anti-malarial, antitumor and anti- gastric ulcer agent have been duly noted as well as its positive effects on cardiovascular health, fertility, skin conditions and for people with diabetes.
Neem has tikta rasam (bitter taste), indeed almost all parts of the tree are bitter in taste. According to Aryuvedic tradition, this is a very important property of the tree and is one of the contributing factors why it is so useful in cases of tiredness, cough, fever, loss of appetite, vomiting, wound healing, and worm infestations.
Often when we talk about the Neem tree and its healing properties we’re usually referring to its leaves (and this is mainly how neem is sold here in Zambia).
However, the neem seeds and neem oil also have noted pharmacological effect ( anti-dermatotic, powerful antihelmintic, anti-poisonous, etc).
As a botanist and herbalist, I would like to emphasis that although Neem can aid us through its pharmacological actions and help cure us from various ailments, it has many other uses. There is one in particular that I would like to draw attention to, and that is the environment. Planting a Neem tree in your back yard can vastly improve the quality of your air. Neem will help eliminate/counteract some of the pollution that we are exposed to. In addition, like all plants it will also help oxygenate your environment. Furthermore, burning neem leaves will prevent insects from bothering you, including mosquitoes. I truly hope people take this on board and start planting neem trees in our compounds, gardens, schools, outside hospitals and so on. Not only would we be supporting and enhancing our health but also the environment around us. Neem is a wonderful natural resource that we have been blessed with, let’s make use of it.
One word of caution though, please don’t just go out and harvest every part of this precious tree without the proper knowledge. Bear in mind that every part of the tree is to be collected in a particular season for effectiveness of its properties. Therefore, consult with someone who knows these specifics and techniques.
It is also important that you store your neem properly. Find a place that is free of insects and has good ventilation.
Finally, below is a list of conditions that herbalists often treat with neem (sometimes in combination with other herbs). Internal use - fever, malaria, digestion disorders, diarrhea, dysentery, hyperacidity, constipation, worm infections, burning sensation, hepatitis, respiratory disorders, cough, tuberculosis, urinary disorders, gynecological disorders, leucorrhoea, dysmenorrheal, diabetes, hypertension, cancer, leprosy, skin disorders, allergy, AIDS.
External uses - eczema, psoriasis, acne, inflammatory conditions, infected wounds and glands, abscess, ulcers, sinusitis, headache, hair care, poison bite, scabies, small pox, chicken pox, measles, piles, vaginal disorders, etc.
Want more information about Neem? You can contact Tembo directly on 096-5-/097 7 833940, 095-5-823940 email: umoyo05@yahoo.com
Interested in Health? 0966 800 600. www.myafya.com (external link)
Labels: NEEM OIL, ORGANICS
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Organic farming body sets out goals
- by Irene !Hoaës
14 June 2010
WINDHOEK – The Namibia Organic Association (NOA) was launched at the just ended 2010 Tourism Expo last week. “We want to provide leadership in organic farming and encourage farmers to incorporate organic practices in their farming methods,” the chairperson of the association, Manjo Smith, said.
The vision of NOA is to contribute to a healthy environment, to attain increased incomes and improve livelihoods through the adoption of organic agriculture in Namibia.
Organic farming is the form of agriculture that relies on crop rotation, green manure, compost, biological pest control, organically approved pesticide application and mechanical cultivation to maintain soil productivity and control pests, excluding or strictly limiting the use of synthetic fertilisers and synthetic pesticides or plant growth regulators.
NOA’s mission is to provide leadership in the coordination and promotion of organic agricultural development, networking and marketing.
To accomplish its mission, NOA will promote Namibian organic products, locally and internationally, by specifically connecting small-scale and communal farmers with markets; build capacity in organic training, education, extension, research; promote organic production systems and wild harvesting, increase awareness and attract support for organic agriculture in Namibia and be a contact point for organic matters.
Smith said the association is a membership-based organisation for both producers and consumers.
“Consumers are also members as they can influence other people or even Government,” Smith said.
The Namibia Country Pilot Partnership for Integrated Sustainable Land Management (CPP SLM SAM) financially supports NOA with funds provided by the Global Environment Facility and administered by the United Nations Development Programme.
The CPP SLM SAM is hosted by the Ministry of Environment and Tourism, which is also the lead implementing agency of the partnership.
Since 1990, the market for organic products has grown at a rapid pace, to reach N$46 billion in 2007.
The demand has driven a similar increase in organically managed farmland.
Approximately 32.2 million hectares worldwide are now being farmed organically, representing approximately 0.8 percent of total world farmland
In addition, as of 2007, organic wild products are harvested on approximately 30 million hectares.
Labels: AGRICULTURE, NAMIBIA, NAMIBIA ORGANIC ASSOCIATION, ORGANICS
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Agriculture has potential to grow economy, says Mpulungu DC
By Emmanuel Kapampa in Mpulungu
Tue 11 May 2010, 03:20 CAT
MPULUNGU district commissioner Willie Simfukwe says the agriculture sector has the potential to grow the economy and raise the standards of living for thousands of people, when seriously ventured into.
Addressing hundreds of farmers during a field day held at Kasimango agriculture camp in Mpulungu on Friday, Simfukwe said countries like Malawi and Tanzania were doing well in agriculture and there was need for Zambia to turn to the sector for economic emancipation.
‘’Mostly here in Mpulungu, our people have always depended on the lake as a major source of living but every day we are hearing stories of depleting fish stock in Lake Tanganyika. So this is the time to diversify, move away from fishing and go into crop production,’’ he told the farmers.
He assured that the government would provide an enabling environment for people who wanted to venture into the growing of crops as a business and source of income.
Simfukwe said the onus was on the farmers to work hard and grow enough crops to ensure household food security in the nation.
‘’ As we are seeing, this area is now opening up meaning that there will be a lot of activity in trade, agriculture and tourism. My appeal to you is grow enough crops and sell to Kasama, Mbala, Mpulungu and Kasaba bay and raise money to improve your lives,’’ he said.
And district agriculture coordinator Boniface Mwalongo advised the farmers to make use of natural fertilisers, saying that industrial fertilisers and other agriculture inputs were not always enough to benefit all the farmers.
He noted that farmers must also be visionary and exercise thrift spending after selling their maize to FRA this marketing season.
He advised them to save some money to spend on farming inputs in the next farming season to allow for continuity.
Labels: AGRICULTURE, BONIFACE MWALONGO, FARMERS, LAKE TANGANYIKA, MPULUNGU, ORGANICS, WILLIE SIMFUKWE
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What is the best farming system?
IN ecological systems, there are no simple answers because easy solutions are always unstable ones, but there is a better agricultural system that farmers should employ. Such systems evolve as our knowledge base increases and as technology develops. Attitudes also change and farmers are now more environmentally conscious than ever before, in line with community expectations.
But, evolving farming systems must be intensively monitored to measure performance and to make adjustments where undesirable trends are identified. As a result, promoting environmental friendly farming technologies is a welcome idea as it will help eradicate the dependence that farmers have on methods that harm the environment. Farmers should, therefore, try technologies such as organic production because it is one way to save and regenerate soils, thereby promoting environmental friendly crops.
With soaring food prices world over, the best thing farmers can do is save the source of life. It is particularly important for small-scale farmers to depend on subsistence agriculture to ensure that key ecosystem functions are maintained. Biodiversity and ecosystem services are the living basis for humanity’s well-being. Everyone in the world depends on nature and ecosystem services to provide the conditions for a healthy life.
Biodiversity benefits people through more than just its contribution to immediate material welfare and livelihoods, but also contributes to long-term security and resilience. Non-degraded ecosystems have shown to be more robust and protecting against natural disasters such as droughts and floods.
Over the past 50 years, humans have changed ecosystems more rapidly than any comparable period of time in human history. This has been done with a view to meeting rapidly growing demand for food, fresh water, timber and fuel.
To reduce poverty, the ecosystem functions which provide the needed services have to be maintained through more targeted biodiversity conservation.
Dr Kenneth Nkowani, director at the department of Environment and Natural Resources says “if we are to conserve biodiversity, it is important to relate it to the livelihood of the people of Zambia. At global level there are targets set for the year 2010.”
Dr Nkowani explains that the Zambian Government has translated the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) into Tonga and Lozi in Southern and Western provinces so that people understand the issue at hand. Biodiversity loss has immensely contributed to the below normal rainfall experienced in the two provinces.
“Over-grazing and bad farming methods that some farmers’ use has exacerbated the loss,” he reveals. He also says agro-ecological zones will shift due to climate change and issues of species, pests and plants may change if no proactive measures are taken.
“It is every Zambian’s responsibility to look after the resource if our livelihood is to be sustained, emphasises Dr Nkowani, adding that food production is directly related to biodiversity conservation.
He explains that biodiversity is important for today and generations to come and impact heavily on agriculture because it has a big link with food production, forestry, fisheries and mining.
Dr Nkowani also stresses the need for people to work hand in hand with the Government in order to achieve the 2010 biodiversity target, failure to which biodiversity loss will increase to the detriment of the nation.
He adds that it is also important for the Zambian Government to take action before 2035 and attach three per cent of the GDP towards activities which can safeguard ecosystem and biodiversity.
In a separate interview, Ignatius Makumba, acting chief of Natural Resources Management at the same department, says Zambia has done quite a lot in achieving the 2010 biodiversity target despite the numerous challenges.
“We are on track but you should realise that there are a lot of resources required in making sure that we achieve this target. As a country, we tried to put up certain activities in place which are contributing towards the achievement of the biodiversity target 2010,” says Makumba.
He further adds that his department has simplified the United Nations Convention on biodiversity, adding that they have also been implementing a project on the localisation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
Makumba also says people should not forget that the biodiversity 2010 target is related to the MDGs.
“We have gone a step further in the localisation of the MDGs in two districts, namely Chibombo and Mazabuka,” he reveals, adding that “we have brought the community on board to make them understand the meaning of MDGs.”
He explains that people have realised that environmental sustainability cuts across all MDGs and that this means without a sustained environment, it is impossible to achieve other MDGs.
“We are saying that biodiversity contributes to the livelihood of people. What this means is that if the environment is sustained, we will then be tackling MDG number one which talks about poverty alleviation,” narrates Makumba.
It is believed that where the environment is degraded, people will not be able to effectively contribute towards the achievement of the number two MDG which talks about universal primary education.
It is said that where the environment cannot provide the necessary services, children will spend time looking for firewood and do other house tasks, leaving less time for school.
“You will find that failure to achieve MDG number seven, which talks about environmental sustainability, will make it impossible for you to achieve MDG number two,” explains Makumba.
The challenge of reversing the degradation of ecosystems while meeting increasing demand for their services calls for significant changes in policies and attitude.
Therefore, Zambians, especially research institutes, agricultural companies and farmers should advocate for farming systems that are profitable, environmentally sound as well as one that can build a cleaner, healthier environment and a safer world. — PALISAH.
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Labels: AGRICULTURAL SHOW, BIODIVERSITY, CONSERVATION FARMIING, ORGANICS
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Namugala launches Eco-Village model project
Posted on March 15th, 2008
Community Development and Social Services Minister, Catherine Namugala today launched the first ever Eco-Village model project in Zambia, an initiative of the Network for Environmental Concerns and Solutions (NECOS). The initiative aims at
transforming Madiba compound of Matero, from a peri-urban settlement into an Eco-Village Model.
Speaking at the launch at Diana Kaimba Basic School in Lusaka, Ms Namugala said every nation aspires to have socio-economic development saying Zambians should strive to pursue developmental activities that will have minimum negative impact on the environment.
She said studies and experiences have shown that where the community improves its water and sanitation, the quality of health also improves.
Ms Namugala said the upgrading of informal settlements in peri-urban areas will play an important role in improving living standards for the residents.
She further said sustainable development can only be guaranteed when community involvement is encouraged and supported by all.
Speaking at the same function, Finish Ambassador to Zambia Sinikka Antila said the project was founded by Finish Non Governmental Organizations (NGO) and other NGOs from other co-operating partners.
She said Finland and Zambia have been collaborating in areas like environment, health and private sector development.
Ms Antila said Finland will to continue increase its aid to the Zambian government in order to improve the living standards for its citizens.
And NECOS President Obed Kawanga said NECOS is a community based non governmental organization which was founded in 2004 to address community problems of Madiba compound like the cholera outbreak which claimed many lives.
He said environmental and social-economic concerns should be handled together with all concerned residents and stakeholders.
Meanwhile the Global Dry Toilet Association Project says sanitation is a big problem that kills about 1.5 million children every year globally.
Project Coordinator,Sari Huuhtanen said most children die from simple diarrhoea diseases, a problem which she said can easily be prevented with proper toilets and hygiene.
Labels: NECOS, ORGANICS
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Access to land means bare survival for grandmothers
South Africa: A Revolution Fuelled By Organic Vegetables
by Helen Kilbey
A quiet revolution is pulsing through the huge residential areas spread out on the edges of Cape Town. Home to nearly a million people, these areas -- known to South Africans as townships -- are no strangers to revolution. Hotbeds of anti-government activity in final years of apartheid, their potholed streets have been pounded by countless angry protestors, the walls of their homes privy to many a mutinous conversation.
But 13 years after liberation, the battleground looks somewhat different. The enemy, once clear, has become vague and ill defined. Those who once lived in fear of government bullets are now far more likely to be killed by AIDS; those who hoped for "a better life for all" (the slogan that swept the African National Congress into power in 1994) are still faced with joblessness, poverty and crime.
Against this altered landscape, it makes sense that if the seeds of revolution are being sown, they are being sown a little differently.
Quite literally, in fact.
For today's weapon-chest is becoming increasingly filled with vegetables: cabbages, carrots, beetroot, spinach leaves and heads of broccoli. One hundred percent organically grown.
It is a revolution fuelled by vegetables.
They are being grown out in the open, in community food gardens created on previously unused patches of land all over the townships -- Khayelitsha, Nyanga, Gugulethu, Crossroads -- with more springing up every year. Almost all of them are owned and run by township-based women; pensioners in many cases.
A revolution led by grannies, based on spinach?
When the adversary is hunger, sickness and disempowerment, mothers and grandmothers may be the best people to overcome it; and an organic food garden could prove to be a far more effective weapon than an AK-47.
Phillipina Ndamane, 72, is a typical township food gardener. With five other women, she co-owns and runs the Fezeka community garden in Gugulethu, where she lives. The garden is about three quarters the size of a soccer field, and is filled with rows and rows of flourishing vegetables. Each woman has her own plot, on which she grows food for herself, her family and her neighbors. In the middle of the private plots is a communal plot, on which the women grow vegetables which they sell, sharing the profits.
Like her five partners, Ndamane relies on a government pension to make ends meet. At R800 (U.S.$115) a month, this does not go very far in feeding herself, her elderly sister and the nine children she supports -- six grandchildren and three others, all orphans. "We can't buy vegetables," she says. "The garden is helping me a lot because we don't [need to] buy the things we grow here -- I'm taking some to the house."
The social benefits of Fezeka radiate further, too. As Fezeka co-owner Shaba Esiteng, 77, explains: "We are helping the others who don't work, the sick people... people who have HIV, old people -- we help them with our vegetables."
Esiteng is living proof of the nutritional value of the vegetables she grows: "When I first came to the garden, really, I was thin. I was sick. I can feel that I'm strong now… maybe it's because I didn't have any vegetables. I'm very strong now, I'm eating vegetables every day… [and] I'm getting exercise."
"She's fat!" chimes in Joyce Nyebela, 65, laughing. "She wasn't like this [before]; she doesn't get old!"
Nyebela, another Gugulethu resident, is sold on the benefits of gardening: "We come to the garden to take exercise, to move the nerves, to meet people and talk -- it's better that way."
Her husband, on the other hand, "just sits, eats and drinks coffee," she says in a disparaging tone. "Men don't want to do anything -- they just want to eat and talk and, you know, rule you -- that's all."
Doesn't she want him to join her in the garden?
"No, if he wants he must do something, not come to work with me, no. Here it's only women."
Her negative feelings about men are shared by many of the other women who work in communal gardens across the townships -- explained partially by the fact that many of the men who have been involved in gardens in the past have had problems accepting women's leadership.
Rob Small, resource mobilization manager for the Cape Town-based urban agriculture association, Abalimi Bezekhaya ('Planters of the Home') -- largely responsible for stimulating the food gardening movement in Cape Town's townships over the last 25 years, and still heavily involved in developing it -- explains how this has happened, and how the situation is changing:
"A few years ago the men were saying to the women… that they were being cheeky, now that they were becoming empowered through this movement; and often we were finding group leaders being banished back to the rural areas, with the men sitting in the garden consuming what was left.
"[Now] there has been a major groundswell shift, where women have decided 'none of this anymore' – they've chased the men out and they're leading. They are saying men must work in their own gardens."
And, if it comes to it, women are not afraid to stand up to men who won't listen.
Small recounts: "One day at Siyazama [one of the more prosperous gardens], they were waiting with sticks and whips because this man just wouldn't listen to them, wouldn't cooperate with them. He just wanted to sell everything."
Money is another reason why men and women have struggled to work together, according to Small. "Men just want the money. Women don't just want money -- they also want to be able to look after their sick neighbors, their wider community, their children and their grandchildren."
The model according to which the Fezeka garden operates is what Small calls an "emerging livelihood-level model."
Through working with township gardens over the years, Abalimi has developed a "sustainable development continuum," on which gardens range from "survival level," -- at which food is grown for immediate consumption -- through "subsistence level" to "livelihood level," which involves a mixture of personal and commercial plant-growing. At the top end of the scale is a pure commercial model, where everything grown is for sale.
Though Abalimi supports gardeners wanting to farm commercially, the organization is in favor of gardens developed at the livelihood level, because of the social benefits it sees radiating out from this model.
"Everyone thinks that the commercial model is the Shangri-La, but it's actually not," says Small. "That provides the least social benefits, in our opinion… No-one understands this livelihood level. We all used to be at livelihood level, in our ancient past. We were living at modest livelihood level where we were embedded in a whole. We weren't super-wealthy but we weren't super-poor -- and even if we were poor, we had most of our needs met.
"Women are getting a broad range of benefits [from livelihood level gardens]: health, family wellbeing, networking… mutual support groups, child support groups, community care through vegetables to the poor, the needy -- all that starts to happen."
And more and more people are wanting to be part of it.
In the beginning, Abalimi went out and recruited people, persuading them to start gardening as a solution to some of the problems they faced. Now the organization is inundated with requests from eager township residents wanting to grow their own food. It is at present directly involved with about 50 gardens, and in the last decade has supported the development of about 300.
Other important players have come on board, most notably the central government's Department of Agriculture and the City of Cape Town, which Small says is "the first city in Africa to have a formal urban agriculture policy approved by executive political leadership."
The journey has not been easy. Pat Featherstone, operations director of Soil for Life -- the other significant Cape Town-based NGO which has been helping to build the township gardening movement, and which has operated since 2003 -- says there have been huge difficulties with projects: "There's so much that goes on in these communities that makes it really difficult to garden... in fact, often it's not about growing food, its about growing people."
Soil for Life is currently placing more and more emphasis on food gardening at home. "With home gardens, there's no transport needed, no hassle… and people want it," says Featherstone. "People see someone's garden and it's beautiful and they want one. The deal is, if you want a home garden, we'll show you how to do it -- and then half the produce is [yours], and the other half we'll buy from you."
For many, communal gardens give them something that nothing else can -- a sense of community.
"These women are my sisters," says Regina Shiceka of her fellow Fezeka gardeners. "They are like family. If you have a problem, you can come and talk to them and they will help you."
"Before the garden we were sitting in our houses," says Phillipina Ndamane… [Now] the garden is strengthening us; it's why we are here every day. I enjoy this garden…. I will carry on till I die."
Webmaster Hanno Beck: As soon as the derelict land that these people are using starts to have a nontrivial value, they will all be speedily thrown off it by so-called "owners" who have done nothing for the neighborhood. Are only geoists allowed to see that, nobody else?
Labels: ORGANICS, SOUTH AFRICA
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Developed countries creating unfair competition - OPPAZ
By Fridah Zinyama
Wednesday October 17, 2007 [04:00]
The Organic Producers and Processors Association of Zambia (OPPAZ) has said competition is severely constrained between producers in industrialised countries and those in the developing world. In a joint statement on the World Food Day 2007 whose theme was the ‘Right to Food’, OPPAZ and the International Forum of Organic Agriculture Movement (IFOAM) stated that developed countries dumped their agricultural surpluses in developing countries thus creating unfair competition.
“When sold on the world market at less than the cost of production, these surpluses depress local prices, thereby lowering production and people’s direct access to food, although they may officially have a ‘Right to food’ in their own countries,” they stated.
The two organisations stated that with such practices it would be difficult to ensure that developing countries produced enough food to meet their demands.
“The right to food is the right of every person to have regular access to sufficient, nutritionally adequate and culturally acceptable food for an active, healthy life,” they stated.
They added that it was the right to feed oneself in dignity and produce healthy and culturally appropriate food through ecologically, socially and economically sound methods, defining one’s own food systems that was important rather than the right to be fed.
“This counts for each and every individual, as well as for communities and regions,” they stated.
And OPPAZ and IFOAM also stated that the ‘Right to Food’ also meant that life could not be patented.
“Patents on life support, the monopoly control of genetic resources by few, thereby extensively undermining people’s rights and access to food,” stated the two organisations.
Labels: OPPAZ, ORGANICS
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Organic farming: An emerging industry in Zambia
By Annie Sampa
WITH land in increasingly short supply due to poor soil, organic agriculture offers good prospects for intensifying production and boosting farmer’s income. It is accepted in Zambia today that soil fertility and crop yields are declining in the areas of the country where farming is concentrated, although the speed at which this is taking place is not always fully recognised.
In order to increase yields and profitability, as well as to save and regenerate soils, the farming sector from small-scale holders to commercial farmers need to find ways of reducing costs of their inputs, increase the value of their outputs and to practice sustainable methods of production. And organic agriculture offers a viable opportunity to address these issues.
Organic farming has become one of the fastest growing segments in the world one of which is the US agriculture. US producers are turning to certified organic farming system as a potential way to lower input costs, decrease reliance on non-renewable resources, capture high-value markets and premium prices and boost farm income.
One of the reasons why producers are pursuing this technology system is because it relies on ecologically based practices such as cultural and biological pest management and virtually excludes the use of synthetic chemicals in crop production, and prohibits the use of antibiotics and hormones in livestock production.
Many producers, manufacturers, distributors and retailers specialise in growing, processing and marketing an ever widening array of organic food and fiber products.
One organic specialist Morgan Reggs based in the US says organic product is not simply the avoidance of conventional chemical inputs nor is it the substitution of natural inputs for synthetic ones.
Organic farmers apply techniques used thousands of years ago such as crop rotation and the use of compost animal manure and green manure in ways that are economically sustainable in today’s world.
After working in this field for 10 years now, he feels in organic production, overall system health is emphasised and the interaction of management practices is the primary concern adding that the producers only implement a wide range of strategies to develop and maintain biological diversity and replenish soil fertility.
Subsequently, Reggs states that the key characteristics of organic farming is to produce food of high nutritional quality in sufficient quantity, to maintain and increase lon g term fertility of soils, and to give livestock all life conditions which allow them to perform the basic aspects of their intimate behavior.
Accordingly, consumers are demanding organic foods because in organic farming; weeds, diseases and pest control rely primarily on crop rotations, natural predators, organic manuring, resistant and limited thermal, biological and chemical intervention that put human health at risk.
Therefore, careful attention to the impact of the farming system on the wider environment and the conservation of wildlife and natural habitats are preserved.
For instance, in June, the European Union agriculture ministers reached political agreement on a new regulation on organic production and labeling which will be simpler for both farmers and consumers.
The new rules set out a complete set of objectives, principles and basic rules for organic production including a new permanent import regime and more consistent control regime.
The use of the EU organic logo will be mandatory but it can be accompanied by national or private logos. The place where the products were farmed has to be also indicated to inform consumers and food will only be able to carry an organic logo if at least 95 per cent of the ingredients are organic.
This is so because ‘organic’ is the fastest growing food and beverage market in the West. All the major supermarkets now stock processed and packaged organic goods as well as fresh produce and 63 per cent of shoppers interviewed in a recent pole, had at some time purchased organic products and 32 per cent on a regular basis.
Germany has the largest market of organic products, closely followed by Switzerland , Denmark and the Netherlands .
Despite this, consumption of organic products, the markets in Europe remain greatly under supplied.
The organic market is now flourishing worldwide. This market is not only centered in the West, in Japan 820 retail outlets were recorded as selling organic food in Tokyo in 1997 (International Agricultural Development Journal) which an estimated 4 million people eating organic food.
Some schools and restaurants have resorted to organic food and at least one brewery claims to use only organic rice in its premium brands.
According to United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation, EU organic farming is set to grow rapidly across Europe in the coming years amid demand for food produced with a minimum of pesticides and synthetic fertilisers.
Additionally, retail sales from organic farming in the EU have climbed from US$4.7 billion in 1997 to approximately $23 to 28 billion in 2005; this indicates it will climb increasingly in few years to come if growth rates and profitability remains at the current levels.
At an overall persistent growth rate in the EU of around 25 per cent per year for the past 10 years, organic agriculture is one of the fastest growing sectors of agricultural production, more so, there is a growing demand for organic foods driven primarily by consumer’s perceptions of the quality and safety of these foods.
A report released by the Organic Centre two years ago concludes that organic farming practices can also lessen the risk of dangerous mycotoxin contamination in foods, especially grain based products.
Mycotoxin that is secondary metabolites produced by fungi in response to certain environment conditions are most commonly found in grains and grain based products such as whole wheat breads as well as in nuts, spices, milk and apple juice. When present in food supply can pose mild to severe human health risk.
In Zambia, an organisation calling itself Organic Producers and Processors Associations of Zambia (OPPAZ) is promoting and expanding the opportunities of organic agricultural.
OPPAZ has developed network of organic buyers and traders and as a priority activity, offers the facility of a coordinated marketing role for producers and processors within Zambia to stimulate and support the increase in the volume of export products.
Most members of the association are already producer-exporter and are mainly engaged in the production and export of fresh produce to supermarkets in the UK and honey, wax and mushroom to Europe .
It is anticipated that the expansion of organic pulses, seed products and seed oils, honey, coffee, herb and spice production and value added items will develop in response to the growing demand from international organic buyers.
In undertaking the practice of organic agriculture, farmer-producers will benefit if only they improve the quality and fertility of their land holding and, when entering the certified organic market place, they should gain greater profit from their enterprises.
This emerging organic industry is in its infancy in Zambia . In order for Zambia to gain from these opportunities and to establish her name on the global market as a supplier of organic produce, organic farming requires the dynamic input and commitment of the farming sector, trade organisations, donor communities and the Government. Zambia will then realise the full potential of this emerging agro-business-PALISAH.
For more information,
Write to the Editor
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Tel: 237445
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Labels: FARMING, ORGANICS
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