Agricultural Sciences

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    Impact of large-scale agricultural investment support on smallholder agricultural commercialisation: a case of Amatheon Agri Zambia.
    (The University of Zambia, 2024) Kazekula, Eurelia Mutinta
    Smallholder farmers in Africa are perpetually constrained by a number of factors such as limited market access, poor infrastructure, and low production and productivity which in turn affects their levels of commercialisation. One strategy that has been touted as the panacea to the low levels of smallholder agricultural commercialisation is the corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative by foreign-owned large-scale agricultural investments (LSAIs) aimed at transforming traditional subsistence farming into commercially viable enterprises. Using the case study of Amatheon Agri Zambia limited (AAZ), a German-owned company with approximately 40,000 hectares of land in Central Zambia, the overarching objective of this study was to investigate the impact of AAZ’s nucleus out grower scheme programme on smallholder agricultural commercialisation in Mumbwa and Chibombo districts. The study used secondary longitudinal data from 590 households collected in 2018 and 2021 to address three specific objectives: (i) to examine the level of agricultural commercialisation between participants and non-participants of the AAZ out grower scheme; (ii) to determine the key drivers of agricultural commercialisation among smallholder farmers, and; (iii) to estimate the impact of the AAZ out grower scheme interventions on smallholder agricultural commercialisation. Summary statistics were computed to compare the levels of commercialisation between participants and non-participants using three household commercialisation indices generated for maize, soya beans and an aggregate crop index. The three household commercialisation indices were also used as outcome variables for the fractional regression approach to explore the key determinants of smallholder agricultural commercialisation in the context of nucleus out grower schemes. To estimate the impacts of AAZ support on agricultural commercialisation, propensity score matching techniques were used prior to the computation of average treatment effects. Factors such as age of the household head, ownership of agricultural assets, household wealth, maize yield, average maize price per unit, farm size, and distance to Lusaka influenced maize commercialisation. Soya bean commercialisation was influenced by ownership of agricultural assets, yield, and farm-gate prices. Crop commercialisation was influenced by household size, education level, grain sales to AAZ, loan access, agricultural assets, and total land cultivated, with household head age negatively affecting commercialisation. Results further show a general significant increase in commercialisation between the treatment and control groups at both study rounds with soya beans being farmed for commercial purposes. Maize farmers in the AAZ scheme are medium commercialised and overall crops are highly commercialised. There was a decline of soya beans at the end line particularly due to AAZ’s strategic shift to high-value crops and restructuring of its out grower scheme. In the treated group, 61.08% of individuals are engaged in maize commercialisation, compared to 49.45% in the control group. The Average Treatment effect on the Treated (ATT) indicates a significant difference in maize commercialisation between the groups, suggesting that AAZ's support enhances smallholder farmers' maize commercialisation by 61.08% relative to those without AAZ support. However, the average treatment effect for soya bean commercialisation is minimal, with T-statistics showing no significant difference, implying that AAZ's impact on soya bean commercialisation is similar for both treated and control groups. Consequently, 83.0% of households that received AAZ support commercialised soya beans, mirroring the effect on non-participating households. Additionally, the AAZ support does not differ in its impact on overall crop commercialisation between the treated and control groups, indicating that participants and non-participants experience the same level of intervention effect by 74.6% on the marketing of cowpeas, sunflower, groundnuts, and vegetables. In conclusion, this research underscores the positive influence of LSAIs, particularly AAZ, on smallholder agricultural commercialisation in Zambia. Policy recommendations include targeted support to enhance education, promote asset ownership, and improve market access. Additionally, diversifying crops and building resilience against natural shocks are vital. These findings provide valuable insights for policymakers and stakeholders, guiding strategies for sustainable agricultural development in SSA.
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    Nutritional status of HIV/AIDS patients receiving food supplementation and antiretroviral therapy in food insecure enviroments in Chisamba and Kapiri Mposhi districts, Zambia.
    (The University of Zambia, 2024) Mwanza, Estella
    The HIV/AIDS pandemic is a challenge to many nations with estimates indicating that by 2022, there were 39 million people in the world living with HIV and in Zambia, the HIV prevalence among adults, 15 years and above, is approximately 11 percent. ART has been known to slow progression of HIV in to AIDS, however food insecurity can negatively affect treatment adherence and nutrition status in people living with HIV/AIDS, hence the need to incorporate food supplements in treatment of HIV patients from food insecure households or communities. However, there is scarcity of empirical evidence on the nutrition status of HIV/AIDS patients receiving food supplements and ART. Therefore, this cross-sectional study investigated the association between nutritional status and food supplementation in HIV-positive individuals receiving ART. Purposive sampling was used to identify two districts with food supplementation programs to HIV/AIDS patients and simple random sampling was employed to select 296 particepants; 140 from Kapiri Mposhi and 156 from Chisamba district. A semi structured questionnaire which included, FFQ was used to collect data from the participants. Weight and height were collected after food supplementation and compared to baseline data from the medical records. Additionally, household demographics, and frequency of physical activity were assessed. Furthermore, any serious illnesses experienced by the participants during the course of taking food supplements that could have affected their weight during data collection were noted. Results showed that most of the participants, 82.5 percent, were not in formal employment and the majority, 60.9 percent, were females. It was also observed that the prevalence of severely undernourished participants reduced from 31.5 percent before supplementation to 8 percent after supplementation, moderate undernutrion reduced from 61.5 percent before supplementation to 44 percent after supplementation and for participants with normal BMI, the prevalence increased from 7 percent before supplementation to 48 percent after supplementation. The improvement in BMI of participants was statistically significant (t = -14.703; p < 0.001). The most consumed foods were cereals (100 percent), vegetables (82.1 percent) and meat products (56 percent). Cooking oil had the least prevalence of consumption (7 percent). It was also learnt that 71.5 percent of the participants were enganged in physical exercises.This study has shown that food supplements impacted positively on the BMI scores of the participants and therefore recommends incorporation of food supplements into HIV care to ensure better treatment outcomes.
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    QTL analysis for resistance to anthracnose in bukoba X kijivu population of common bean (phaseolus vulgaris).
    (The University of Zambia, 2024) Kachapulula, Josephine Ssali Namugerwa
    The fungus Colletotrichum lindemuthianum which causes anthracnose disease in common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) has a high genetic variability that requires deployment of loci with resistance to a wide range of C. lindemuthianum races. Most of the loci have been sourced from the Middle American genepool which are usually small seeded requiring many generations of back crossing to recover the original big seed size in Andean gene pool varieties which are also the required market classes in Zambia. This requires identification of loci with durable resistance from the Andean gene pool to reduce the time and cost of resistance breeding. Two Andean parents were used in this study Bukoba (ADP 7) and Kijivu (ADP 33). From previous studies by Sansala et al., (2023), the Andean variety Bukoba showed resistance to a number of races of C. lindemuthianum however the genetic architecture of this resistance was unknown and thus this study. A population of 158 F4:5 Recombinant Inbred Lines (RILs) were developed from a cross of two Andean parents Bukoba and Kijivu and evaluated at the University of Zambia, Lusaka, Zambia. The seven races for this study were 19, 38, 51, 167, 263, 1050 and 1105. These were selected based on their prevalence in Zambian bean growing regions and the virulence levels. The population was genotyped using 12000 SNPs out of which 1,838 were polymorphic between the parents and used to build genetic maps. Composite interval mapping was used to identify the quantitative trait loci (QTL). A total of 8 QTLs: ANT01.1, ANT01.2, ANT02.1, ANT04.1, ANT05.1, ANT06.1, ANT10.1 and ANT11.1 with R2 values ranging from 3.6% for ANT06.1 on Pv06 to 70.1% for ANT01.1 on Pv01 were identified. These were both novel and verified conditioning major and minor resistance to the seven races of C. lindemuthianum in this study. ANT01.1 and ANT04.1 were major QTLs while the rest were minor QTLs suggesting the role of both qualitative and quantitative resistance in the mapping population. The major QTLs identified in this study co-localized with previously reported major genes proving their usefulness as target genes for developing durable resistance to anthracnose using gene pyramiding and marker-assisted selection. ANT01.1 co localised with the Co-1 locus a major Andean locus that conditioned resistance to the very virulent races 1050 and 1105 in this study while ANT04.1 controlled four moderately virulent races 19, 51, 183 and 263. This locus co-localises with well-known Middle American loci Co 3, Co-15, Co-16, Co-y and Co-z and the NB-ARC domain cluster that are responsible for resistance to a number of the pathogen’s races. Although ANT02.1 was a minor QTL, but due to its co-localisation with the I-gene, it should be s considered a candidate for gene pyramiding together with the 2 major QTLs identified as a means of deploying the most durable and cost effective breeding strategy for controlling C. lindemuthianum in Zambia with Bukoba as the source of resistance especially in the yellow bean class.
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    Chemical resistance of cowpea genotypes to aphids (aphis craccivora koch) and bruchids (callosobruchus maculatus F.).
    (The University of Zambia, 2024) Siyunda, Aaron Chimbelya
    Cowpea [Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp] is an annual legume, considered important as a cash and nutritional security grain legume in the semi-arid regions of sub-Saharan Africa. Cowpea yields in the sub-Sahara African region are low partly due to several biotic stress factors, which includes several insects. One of the major insect pests at the developmental stage in cowpea production is the aphid species, Aphis craccivora Koch and at post-harvest stage, the bruchid (Callosobruchus maculatus F.). Therefore, this research seeks to contribute to knowledge on useful genetic materials and associated traits for cowpea resistance to aphids and bruchids in cowpea genotypes by firstly, identify cowpea genotypes that exhibit multiple resistance to aphid and bruchid infestation, secondly, by identify aphid and bruchid resistance metabolites linked to the genes associated with multiple insect resistance in cowpea and lastly, by determining the heritability of genes associated with production of metabolites linked to multiple insect resistance in cowpea. The germplasm used consisted of three parental lines namely; Musandile (MS-parent), Bubebe (BB-parent), and Lutembwe (LT-parent) obtained from Zambia Agricultural Research Institute (ZARI), one landrace variety namely; Namuseba and 101 advanced mutant lines (7th generation mutants) provided by the Department of Plant Sciences under the School of Agricultural Sciences, at the University of Zambia, and 5 purelines from the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA). The non-restricted aphid screening, was conducted in the field at the University of Zambia (UNZA) (Lat= -15.39058o, Long = 28.32813o ), and the restricted aphid screening was conducted in the greenhouse at Natural Resources Development College (NRDC) ((Lat= -15.3833o , Long= 28.3667o ),) in Lusaka Province, Zambia. Bruchid screening was conducted in the insectarium laboratory, Department of Plant Science, School of Agricultural Sciences at the University of Zambia. The metabolite analyses (qualitative analysis) were conducted in the chemistry laboratory at the University of Zambia, and by Food and Drugs laboratory (quantitative analysis). Significant differences at a 5% level of significance were observed among 110 genotypes under consideration with regard to aphid and bruchid resistance. Mutant lines were identified to possess different resistance traits MS1-8-2-6-8-1 (aphid resistance only), LT11-5-2-2-2 (bruchid resistance only), and BBBT1-11 (aphid and bruchid resistance). Phenolics were identified to be highly responsible for the multiple resistant trait expressed by BBBT1-11, under the control of three or more genes. BBBT1-11 can be utilized in breeding programs with a target of breeding multiple insect resistant cowpea genotypes. Further research should also be conducted in order to genotype the BBBT1-11 and identify the QTLs responsible for the trait observed in BBBT1-11.
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    Factors associated with dietary diversity among women of reproductive age in Chongwe district, Zambia.
    (The University of Zambia, 2024) Muzungaile, Toose
    Dietary diversity has continued to gain widespread attention as it has evidently been associated with nutrient adequacy. A diverse diet has been shown to reflect nutrient adequacy since no one food can meet all the nutritional requirement of a person. Women have been considered vulnerable to malnutrition. This is a global concern as poor nutrition status among women of reproductive age (WRA) has an effect on their off springs. To promote dietary diversity, it is important to understand the factors associated with it. This study therefore assessed the factors associated with dietary diversity among WRA in Chongwe district of Lusaka, Zambia. The study was a cross-sectional in nature, consisting of 476 randomly selected WRA. Data was collected using a researcher administered 24- hour dietary recall questionnaire. The study was conducted between October and December 2019. About 49% of the WRA attained the minimum dietary diversity (MDD-W). Their diets were mainly dominated by foods from the grains, white roots and tubers and plantain food group. Socioeconomic factors (owning a TV and a cellphone), being trained in Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) and Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF) were seen to be associated with dietary diversity in this study. It was observed that being from households that had a TV set (P-value: 0.001), and being trained in WASH (P-value: 0.047) were significantly associated with the achievement of MDD-W. WRA who were from households that had a TV set were about 3 times more likely to achieve MDD-W (OR: 3.5) compared to those that were not, and those that owned a cellphone were almost two times more likely to attain MDD-W (OR:1.70) compared to those that did not own a cellphone. Those that were trained in IYCF were more likely to attain MDD-W (OR: 1.3) compared to those that were not trained. Strategies and intervention programs targeting the identified factors that are positively associated with MDD-W should therefore be enacted, while the existing ones should be supported and monitored particularly among the WRA. These include training in WASH and IYCF and promotion of women’s socioeconomic status. These strategies/programs can be done in a range of areas including revision, adoption and enforcement of legislation that mandates women to have improved socioeconomic status. These can improve the MDD-W of WRA through various pathways, both nutrition specific and nutrition sensitive. Other studies may be conducted to study behavior aspects of WRA towards dietary diversity.