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President Hakainde Hichilema has called for collaboration between research institutions in the face of climate change which has affected crop yields and animals.
Hichilema noted the need for research institutions such as the Zambia Agricultural Research Institute (ZARI) to collaborate with others, like those at regional level, in order to have optimal results.
The Head of State made the call on Wednesday in Chilanga district, where he toured the ZARI Centre to check on the drought resistant crop research, such as Sorghum, Sugar Clay, among other varieties.
“Just last week I was in Chisamba at the regional research centre focusing on cassava, soya beans and a bit of maize, here it’s sorghum, sugar cane, sugar clay which is good for animal husbandry,” he said.
Hichilema stated that research would, however, amount to nothing if the crop varieties being researched on were not taken to farmers for planting across the country.
He said government wanted to move agriculture to higher productivity levels in order to get a good yield in the following farming seasons.
“One of the largest problems the country is facing is how to feed animals hence the need to have variety of seeds such as sugar clay,” Hichilema stated.
He restated that climate change was here to stay and that the ramifications are droughts with sometimes floods in the same year.
Hichilema emphasized that the country and the region at large needed mitigation measures to deal with the effects of climate change.
“Scientists are trying their best to breed seed varieties which can survive in droughts and I want to urge Zambians to support them and their efforts,” he advised.
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