By CASSEY KAYULA –
ZAMBIA is this year expected to produce about 70,000 tonnes of orange maize.
This forecasting is based on the quantity of seed planted by farmers last year and a yield estimate of two tonnes per hectare.
Harvest Plus Zambia country manager Eliab Simpungwe said Zambian farmers had planted about 35,000 hectares of orange maize this season.
He said this in an interview in Lusaka at the weekend.
“The enrichment of orange maize, which is Zambia’s staple food, will help in combating the rampant cases of vitamin A deficiency, whose ill effects can include stunted growth and blindness,” Mr Simpungwe said.
He said the production of 70,000 tonnes of orange maize in the country would help cushion the high prices of maize and mealie meal that usually rock the country.
Harvest Plus is also pioneering partnership with small and medium size private sector seed companies as a distribution channel to reach large numbers of farmers.
Mr Simpungwe said the adoption rate for orange maize was fairly high in Zambia and that the company expected at least 600,000 households to adopt the crop by 2020.
“Farmers in the country can now access the orange maize seeds, and will soon have more access to the commodity once released across the country, especially that we have engaged Government and other key stakeholders,” he said.
He said seed companies would this year produce over 800 tonnes of seed.
