ZAAB Strategic Plan 2019 – 2022
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ZAAB Briefing to the Ministry of Green Economy and Environment Stakeholders concerns and considerations regarding the Draft Biotechnology and Biosafety Policy and Ongoing revision process 2022
Introduction This Policy Brief deals with processes that have been underway to revise Zambia’s National Biosafety and Biotechnology Policy, which will change how genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are regulated. Such a process is an issue of great importance for many Zambian people. It therefore requires extensive public consultation and judicious consideration of broad Human Rights. In this regard, the briefing lays out key public concerns with the policy review process, particularly related to GMOs in the agriculture and food system, the impacts on biodiversity, and […]
The FOOD WE WANT: AFSA endorses The Global Call to Action Against UPOV
On 8 December 2021, The Alliance for the Food Sovereignty in Africa met in Nairobi, Kenya. As representatives from 55 African countries, and over 30 million smallholder farmers, pastoralists, hunter/gatherers, indigenous peoples, faith-based institutions, women and youth networks, consumer networks and civil society from across Africa, we join in the global call of action against the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV), and thoroughly reject its imposition on our continent’s food systems. UPOV is at the heart of […]
POLICY BRIEF: Climate disruption, food crises and biodiversity collapse: Time to take Zambian Farmers’ Rights seriously
Zambia faces severe challenges around malnutrition and hunger, biodiversity loss, soil erosion and degradation, and embedded rural poverty.i/ii/iii These challenges are exacerbated by the already felt impacts of climate change – more severe extreme weather events such as droughts, rising temperatures and shifting and shorter rainy seasons. As more than half the population is reliant on agricultural activities for sustenance and cash incomes,iv Zambia’s agriculture sector, founded on the work of its smallholder farmers, makes the most logical and critical intervention point to address […]
Transforming the farm input support programme (FISP) to diversified agroecology practices in Mongu district, Western Province, Zambia
This fourth briefing in a series of four highlights key issues raised at a farmer exchange and learning event held in August 2019 in Mongu District, Western Province, Zambia. Namushakende Farming Institute (NFI) hosted the field visit and dialogue together with the Zambia Alliance for Agroecology and Biodiversity (ZAAB), Kasisi Agricultural Training Centre (KATC) and the African Centre for Biodiversity (ACB). This multi-stakeholder dialogue involved 63 participants, bringing together farmers, farmers’ groups, civil society, agronomists and Ministry of Agriculture officials. Farming conditions in this region, […]
Transforming the FISP to diversified agroecology practices in Pemba District, Southern Province, Zambia
The third in the series of four farmer exchange meetings in Zambia took place in July, in Pemba District, Southern Province. Through a partnership between the African Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) and the Zambia Alliance for Agroecology and Biodiversity (ZAAB), Kanchomba Farming Institute (KFI) hosted the field visit and dialogue, together with Kasisi Agricultural Training Centre (KATC). The 58 participants included farmers and representatives from local organisations and the Department of Agriculture. This region’s generally hot, dry climate has been exacerbated by severe droughts […]
Transforming the Farm Input Support Programme (FISP) to diversified agroecology practices in Shibuyunji District, Central Province, Zambia
This is a second briefing paper to come out of farmer exchange events held in Zambia in May. The first exchange took place in Kalulushi District, Copperbelt Province, and you can find that briefing paper here. Then a second exchange was convened in Shibuyunji District, Central Province, where the objective was to continue sharing ideas on transitioning to a smallholder support system for diversified agroecological farming. In Zambia, food and farming systems have changed rapidly, and for the worse. Increasingly, farmers use chemicals and poisonous […]
Moving from the Farm Input Subsidy Programme (FISP) to Agroecology in the Kalulushi District, Copperbelt, Zambia
This briefing highlights key issues raised at a farmer exchange and learning event held in May 2019 in Kalulushi District, in the Copperbelt Province of Zambia. The overall objective of the meeting was to share and exchange ideas on transitioning to a smallholder support system for diversified agroecological farming. Participants discussed the roles that farmers, government and other organisations can play, as well as how to involve youth. The Zambia College of Horticultural Training (ZCHT) Chapula, Kasisi Agricultural Training Centre (KATC), Zambia Alliance for Agroecology […]
Securing equitable farmer support and the transition from the Farm Input Subsidy Programme in Zambia
We are pleased to share with you this discussion paper, co-published by the African Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) and the Zambia Alliance for Agroecology and Biodiversity (ZAAB). In Zambia, as in many other African countries, decisions related to food production and consumption increasingly lie outside the control of those responsible and accountable for food and nutrition security at both household and national level. Farmer support is almost entirely directed at subsidising smallholder uptake of Green Revolution (GR) technologies, which is based on the flawed claim that if farmers can access […]
PRESS RELEASE, 07/03/2019
PRESS RELEASE, 07/03/2019 There is public outcry over news that the ban on GMO food in Zambia has been lifted. Questions were raised as to “whether the ban on the importation of Genetically Modified Organisms food stuffs (GMOs) is still in effect” in The National Assembly on 27 February 2019. According to the National Biosafety Authority (NBA), by presence of the Biosafety Act 2010, imported food containing processed products of GM crops, are allowed into Zambia, as long as they go through a strict application […]