Question: What are the nutritional requirements for raising kids and lambs? Nutrition starts with the mother. If ewes or does are poorly fed while pregnant, the offspring won’t grow well inside the mother. They’ll be small, weak and thin at birth and liable to die from factors such as cold, wind,…
The nutritious advantage of indigenous vegetables and crops can be enjoyed outside of harvesting season due to several preservation methods. Indigenous vegetables and crops are a healthy alternative or addition to conventional crops, and can be cultivated or even be found in the wild for free. By preserving them for…
Scientists have found the health benefits of orange maize can be enhanced with almost 25% by using better post harvest storage methods. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) more than half of Zambian children aged between 6 months and 5 years suffer from Vitamin A deficiency due to poor…
The right balance in a pig's diet is the key to successful feeding and profitable pig farming, whether they are free-ranging or penned. Pigs are monogastric omnivores like humans, and cannot digest the amounts of fibre that ruminants thrive on. They eat a combination of plant- and animal- based ingredients. There…
Last week, we covered the nutritional needs of heavily pregnant does. This week we discuss minerals and vaccines for ewes in late pregnancy. The ewe needs sufficient quantities of calcium, phosphorus, magnesium and certain amounts of trace elements (manganese copper, zinc, molybdenum, selenium, iodine and cobalt), to provide for the…
CGIAR (Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research) in partnership with WorldFish have launched a research programme on fish called FISH during the Global Aquaculture Conference, currently underway in Cape Town. The programme was launched to tackle food security and nutrition, enhance livelihoods in emerging countries and also to address poor…
Monoculture cropping, by its nature, exposes communities and makes them vulnerable to the dire consequences of crop failure. Drought, floods and disease can cause crop wipe-out and spell bankruptcy and hunger for farmers and their families and reduced food security for the country. As one Zambian agriculturalist puts it: “Monoculture…
A food security think-tank has urged Zambian smallholder farmers to plant drought-resistant cowpeas to mitigate the adverse effects of climate change. In its latest report, Africa Rising says its pilot project in Eastern Province proved rural populations can use cowpeas as both food and as a cash crop in more…
The initiative of growing orange maize to curb Zambia’s high malnutrition rates has paid off with more than 280 000 tons harvested this season. According to the lead bodies in promoting the crop, the Zambia Agricultural Research Institute (ZARI) and Agricultural Productivity Programme for Eastern and Southern Africa (APPSA), the…
