Case Study – Sorghum Improvement in Zambia: Promotion of Sorghum Open Pollinated Varieties (SOPVs)

Food security has been a major concern because of low crop productivity in Zambia. Food insecurity is a cost to the social-economic development of Zambia and the SADC region. Unpredictable weather and climatic fluctuations have further aggravated this situation. To help address these challenges associated with climate change and crop productivity there has been a major paradigm shift towards crop diversification. As a result, the major goal of the Sorghum Breeding Program is to shift sorghum from a subsistence crop to a value-added cash crop. The inherent capacity of sorghum to tolerant harsh weather gives it an added advantage in mitigating the effects of climate change. The major goal of the Sorghum Program in Zambia is to upscale dissemination of already developed, underutilized, low cost, proven and improved sorghum technologies.

The program has invested in the development of Sorghum Open Pollinated Variety (SOPVs) Technologies that are high yielding with a broader environmental adaptation. SOPVs contribute to national food security and economic development and need to be upscaled through research, extension and enabling policies. The Sorghum Breeding Program utilizes sustainable approaches to ensure that the climate adaptation technologies are utilized by farmers along the Zambezi and Luangwa river basins because these are areas mostly affected by the impact of climatic fluctuations. To make this approach sustainable the Sorghum Breeding Program incorporates agronomic practices such as conservation farming and other soil improvement technologies.

Since farmers not only need food security but also income for social-economic growth, the program equally makes efforts to link small-scale farmers to markets. Disseminating technologies on sorghum value addition is also on the priority list because sorghum can also be used in the food industry (healthy foods), feed industry (stock feed and silage), brewing industry (malt and beer) and energy industry (bio-fuels). The private sector has been persuaded to continue investing in agriculture through input supplies and value addition. While the public sector (government) has been encouraged to make appropriate policies that can enhance sustainable agriculture. The changing climates and economies require that food diversification, sustainable agriculture and proven technologies for climate change adaptation are encouraged.