In order to expand and improve the Zambian agriculture sector, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID),has announced plans to provide grants to support innovative approaches to enhance the Zambian groundnut industry.
According to innovation will play an important role in the development of the Zambian agricultural program.
As a part of the agency’s Feed the Future Program, USAID will promote strategies to develop interventions that will include the adoption of drought-tolerant maize and the management of toxic compounds known as aflatoxin that are currently found in Zambian groundnuts.
“Aflatoxin in groundnuts is affecting the production of the commodity,” reads a USAID report, “So the strategy will provide grants to support approaches to test and scale up innovative change agent models at both household level and among farmers to improve production and nutrition.”
Led by USAID, the Feed the Future initiative aims to accelerate inclusive agricultural growth through the support, efforts, and resources of numerous US agencies, multilateral organizations, NGOs, private sector, research institutions and other stakeholders.
The proposed Zambian agricultural technology initiative will build on the successes of previous pilot programs and innovations and will target 240,000 farmers in the Eastern Province of Zambia.
