Agriculture
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- ItemImpact of Estate vegetable production on the welfare of employees(University of Zambia, 2009) Zulu, MaureenThe horticultural industry is an important sector in the economic welfare of many Zambian families. In this study, the impact of estate vegetable production on the welfare of employees in Borassus was undertaken. The general objective of the study was to determine the impact of large-scale export vegetable production on the welfare of the employees. The specific objectives were to determine the socio-economic status_of people employed on large-scale export vegetable production firms and to determine the extent to which large-scale export vegetable production has contributed to the welfare of the people employed by these firms. The study used survey data collected using structured questionnaires fro a sample of 105 households which included 41 horticultural and 64 non-horticultural worker households. The sample was drawn using stratified random sampling and simple random sampling was used from the two strata. SPSS was used to come up with descriptive statistics and two econometric models were used. The probit model was used to determine the factors that influence participation in the industry. An income model was also used to determine the influence of participation as well other factors on income and in turn the impact of participation on welfare. The major factors that were found to influence participation included age (p-value =0.007) and education level (p-value =0.003) of the household head and the number of children (p-value =0.089) in the household. From the income model results, participation (p-value =0.000) in the industry was found to be very significant on the incomes earned. The impact of the vegetable estate production on welfare was found to be positive. The study recommended that future projects be carried out across the country with a larger sample size so as to get more insight on the impact of the industry on welfare.
- ItemAssessment of the impact of the seed policy in research and training in seed systems among private sector Institutions(University of Zambia, 2009) Simukondo, Coilard S.In 1991, the Zambian government embarked on the liberalization of the economy including the agricultural sector. This meant that Zambia also shifted from the reliance of the public enterprises in the seed business and directed more interest towards private sector participation in both seed processing, marketing and variety development. By the year 2000, quite a number of private seed companies were operating in the country. However, these changes were taking place without a coherent policy to guide the performance and interests of players in the seed business. It is for this reason the National Seed Industrial policy and the National Agricultural policy were formulated in 1999 and 2004 respectively. To date, there hasn't been an impact assessment of private sector participation in research and training in seed systems. Therefore, this study was carried out to specifically establish the number of private companies currently involved in research in seed systems (that is in plant breeding and variety development) and also assess the policy environment. In the study, both primary and secondary data were collected. Primary data was collected by way of questionnaires and open interviews from both private, NGOs and Public sector institutions that included SCCI, (ZARI secondary data), SEEDCO, ZAMSEED, MRI, Kamano, Pannar, Hygrotech, Crop Serve, (ZASTA secondary data), ACF, Caritas Zambia and ZNFU. In the study Seven (7) private companies were captured of which Three (3) were involved in seed processing, multiplication and marketing and Four (4) were actively involved in plant breeding and variety development plus seed processing, multiplication and marketing. In terms of training breeders. Four (4) indicated that they were not involved in any training of plant breeders and this represented 57% and the remaining Three (3) said they did train their own breeders representing 43%. All the seed companies have trained seed quality certifier personnel with SCCI who can carry out various seed quality control tests. The production of certified seed was found to have increased in the 2005/06 season, from 8512 metric tones of maize seed produced in 2000/01 season to 30587 metric tones representing an increase of 260%. A review of the varieties developed/released by the private sector from 1992 to 2007 showed an increase in the total number of varieties released by the private sector to 96 varieties developed. The number of private seed companies involved in research and variety development has increased from three in 1998 to five as of 2008, representing a 66% increase. This has been necessitated by the coherent seed policy framework that was put in place to provide the environment necessary for both private and public sector initiatives. The policy has seen changes were the government's role is not only in monitoring and regulating the seed industry, but also encouraging private sector participation in quality control and certification through licensing.
- ItemStudy of nutrient composition of Range (Village)Chicken eggs(University of Zambia, 2011) Miyanda, MayabaA study was done to compare nutritional composition and external quality of eggs from village chickens with those from commercial chickens. The nutrients evaluated coincided cholesterol, protein, calcium and phosphorous while the external quality parameters included shell thickness and egg shell weight. Eggs from village chickens were randomly collected from small holder farmers in the outskirts of Lusaka while commercial eggs were randomly collected from commercial farmers. Calcium content was higher (p<0.05) in the shells of commercial eggs (10.4%) than in the village chicken eggs (6.8%). Phosphorous content was higher (p=0.05) in the village chicken eggs (28.S?^) than in the commercial eggs (16.8%). There were no significant differences (p> 0.05) between the eggs with regard to cholesterol and shell weight. Commercial egg shells were thicker (p<0.05) with a thickness of 0.28 mm than those from village chicken eggs (0.24 mm) but the weights were similar. It is concluded from these results that cholesterol and shell weights are not different between the commercial eggs and those from village chickens. However, the macro nutrients and external quality were more superior in the commercial eggs compared to those from village chicken eggs.
- ItemEffects of the harmos Bicycle loan project on the Social Economic well being of the beneficiary Farmers in Chongwe District(University of Zambia, 2009) Sakala, Marcus FrancisThe main objective of this study was to find out the major benefits beneficiaries derive from the bicycle loan project, and perceptions beneficiaries have regarding the bicycle loan facility. The study is based on sample survey data from Chongwe district of Lusaka Province of Zambia. Collected data was analyzed in Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) to generate descriptive statistics. Frequency distribution tables were generated to calculate each response as a percentage of the total responses available for a particular question. The study also considered characteristics of the beneficiaries such as the level of education, marital status, sex and age. Field results showed that most (44.0%) beneficiaries use the bicycles for taking agricultural produce to the market; 20.9% use the bicycles to take children to school; 4.4% of the beneficiaries hire the bicycles out. The other 4.4% said they use the bicycles as transport to community meetings. 4.4%; 3.3%; 2.2% and 1.1% indicated using the bicycle for transportation to the field, clinic, in search of new occupation and drinking places. Over fourteen percent (i.e. 14.4%) represent the sample population that was not contacted. On beneficiaries perception 46.0% indicated that bicycle loan was less risky compared to other loans while,39.6% said the loan was not less risky because any delay in fulfilling the loan repayments resulted in the loss of the their bicycles by Harmos Micro Development Limited (HMDL) bailiffs. On the other hand, 59.3% of the beneficiaries indicated that HMDL bicycles were more durable compared to other bicycles, while 23.3% said otherwise. 75.6% of the respondents said the loan was affordable while 10.0% indicated that loan was not affordable.
- ItemAn impact assessment of the Farm seed multiplication project in Mumbwa District(University of Zambia, 2009) Phiri, Eleanor Chaali MalauniThis study was an impact assessment of the ASP Farm Seed Multiplication (FSM) Project on target beneficiary farmers of Mumbwa District in the Central Province of Zambia. The reason why Mumbwa District was chosen was because it was the nearest one of the successful districts in which the ASP - OFSM project was operating from. The broader objective of the study was to assess the impact of the ASP- OFSM project on target beneficiaries of operational camps of Chibila, Kabwanga, Kapyanga, Makombwe, Mamvule, Martin Luther, Matala, Milandu, Mumba scheme, Mupona, and Shimbizhi. In all these Eighty Five (85) participating farmers were interviewed. Purposive sampling was used to select all ASP participating small scale seed growers. Data collection was conducted using a structured questionnaires. The data was coded, captured and analysed using Statistical Package for Social Scientist (SPSS) software to generate descriptive statistics. The findings from the study showed that there was some percentage of change in the livelihood of small scale seed growers. This was evidenced by Majority of the beneficiary house holds were now more food secured than before. This is seen from the period when most farmers started seed multiplication under the ASP project. There was also an increase in their incomes as seen from increased acquisition of assets like bicycles, motor bikes, vehicles, tractors, livestock, house hold goods (televisions, radios), Livestock, houses (building materials), and meeting other family living expenses (groceries and money for maize milling) have been some of the clear indicators that their welfare has improved due to seed multiplication. Despite the project success, the study also found that farmers had a major challenge in terms of marketing of their seed crop. It is therefore recommended that seed growers should consider programmed alternating of growing seed per season. Government should consider too purchasing seed from the small scale farmers in case of subsidised seed. Farmers also should be helped to establish a simple standard of record keeping instead of depending on the recall system. MACO through SCCI and ZARI should ensure that there is always high Quality parent materials for seed multiplication failure to which the small scale seed growers will in fiiture just be multiplying grain as seed. In the same vein Govt should increase funding to SCCI Local authorities to consider giving titles to land used for seed production so as to enable farmers observe husbandry practices such as crop rotation and seed crop isolation recommendations. An ex post evaluation study should be carried out as this would be very helpful in establishing a long term impact and sustainability of the project