Enhanced dissemination of Food legumes based

technologies for increased production

Field Days Report Southern Province, May 2015

REPUBLIC OF ZAMBIA
MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND
LIVESTOCK
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

List of Figures
Figure 1: The demo for the field day in Mwezya Camp, Sinazongwe
Figure 2: The PI and officers setting up posters on the demo in Mwezya camp, Sinazongwe
Figure 3: PAIO setting up the camera for the field day in Mwezya Camp, Sinazongwe
Figure 4: During field day in Mwezya, Sinazongwe: farmers being addressed by officers
Figure 5: During field day in Sinazongwe: group of farmers being addressed by officers
Figure 6: During field day in Sinazongwe, SAO following events in one group
Figure 7: During field day in Sinazongwe, farmers welcoming others from camps
Figure 8: During field day in Sinazongwe, last group being taken through & some farmers
posing for photo
Figure 9: During field day in Sinazongwe, PAIO shooting the proceedings

Acronyms
APPSA
Africa

Agricultural Productivity programme for Southern

CEO

Camp Extension Officer

BEO

Block Extension Officer

CHO

Crop Husbandry Officer

DACO

District Agricultural Coordinator

DAIO

District Agricultural Information Officer

PAIO

Provincial Agricultural Information Officer

PI

Principal Investigator

SAO

Senior Agricultural Officer

SFMO

Senior Farm Management Officer

Table of Content

MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND LIVESTOCK.........................................................i

List of Figures......................................................................................................... ii
Acronyms.............................................................................................................. iii
1.0

Introduction.................................................................................................. 5

2.0

Methodology................................................................................................. 6

3.0

Field Activities (Field days) in Southern Province..........................................6

3.1

23rd to 25th May, 2015 travel to Sinazongwe and Field days......................6

4.0

Observations/Field issues...........................................................................13

5.0

Challenges.................................................................................................. 14

6.0

Conclusion.................................................................................................. 14

7.0

Recommendations/Way forward.................................................................14

1.0 Introduction
This report covers the activities that were undertaken by the APPSA legume dissemination
Team B during field days conducted from 22nd to 24th May, 2015. The major activity
undertaken was conducting field days and distribution of 220 sacks for harvesting of crop that
is drying (cowpeas, soybeans and beans are dry and have to be harvested). The team planned
an outreach of 600 farmers for each district when the attendance for the field days held are
combined for each district giving a total of 600 farmers for the district. One of the field days
was taken as the APPSA Legume dissemination district field day and involved all the camps,
the lead farmers and their follower farmers participating. During the field days, 500 fliers
were distributed in the district.
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The team however managed to have one field day in Sinazongwe (one district field day) with
total attendance of 229 of which were 105 male and 124 representing a 38.17 % of the
targeted outreach number (600 farmers). The gender representation was 45.85 % male and
54.15 % female relative to the total for the district. The attendance was affected by logistical
arrangements in terms of camps being far apart and carrying capacity of hired vehicles.
The total project target for the ten districts is 6,000 farmers reached during the field days.
The team that went to Southern province comprised of the Principal Investigator (Mr
Katumwa Mutandi) and core team member (Mr Mashuta Kalebe). The team was joined by
the PAIO from Southern Province and the district staff who included the DACO, SAO, CHO,
DAIO, BEOs and CEOs in the project district. The DACOs office in the district was quiet
supportive and through the SAOs office made the facilitation and organisation for the field
days easier.
The objectives were to;
(a) Conduct field days in the district in the project areas
(b) Distribute fliers (project and legumes crop production) to field day participants
(c) Distribute packaging material in readiness for harvest (cow peas and beans are almost
ready and need to be harvested after field days to avoid shattering)
(d) Interview individual and group farmers to gauge benefits farmers are accruing from the
project
The main outputs were:
i)
ii)
iii)
iv)

At least 2 field days conducted (the team may not attend all, but support has to be provided
to allow inducted MAL staff to continue with field days).
At least 600 farmers reached during the field days (approx 600 farmers for the district)
500 fliers distributed to field days participants
At least 2 field days recordings; 3 individual and group interviews conducted and recorded
for radio programs about farmers benefit from the programme.

2.0 Methodology
The methodology used a participatory extension approach, where the core team and the
farmers interacted and evaluated the crop performance and the farmers were advised to pick
or choose the varieties that best adapted to the soils in the district. Farmers were put in groups
and for each crop an officer and lead farmer were placed to man the plots and provide
explanations to the farmers, with the PI team providing technical guidance on the core issues.
Thereafter a platform for question and answer session was created where all the farmers were
addressed on issues they observed in the field that needed further clarifications.

Selected lead farmers were interviewed on the APPSA legume project and how its affecting
their livelihood in terms of knowledge and production.
The ushers were also tasked to take stock of statistics through counting of the participants as
they were placed in groups.

3.0 Field Activities (Field days) in Southern Province

3.1 23rd to 25th May, 2015 travel to Sinazongwe and Field days
The team conducted one district field day in Sinazongwe on farmer number two. The team
also conducted interviews for selected lead farmers on the APPSA project and the
technologies being disseminated for possible Television and radio programs to increase on
the outreach and for farmers to get practical feedback from their practicing farmers so as to
influence adoption. The team through NAIS was able to carry out three video and voice
recordings.
The attendance in Sinazongwe was 229 for the one district field day that was conducted by
the team and district MAL staff under DACOs office.
The selected pictures below show some of the clips during the field day;

Figure 1: The demo for the field day in Mwezya Camp, Sinazongwe
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Figure 2: The PI and officers setting up posters on the demo in Mwezya camp, Sinazongwe
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Figure 3: PAIO setting up the camera for the field day in Mwezya Camp, Sinazongwe

Figure 4: During field day in Mwezya, Sinazongwe: farmers being addressed by officers
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Figure 5: During field day in Sinazongwe: group of farmers being addressed by officers

Figure 6: During field day in Sinazongwe, SAO following events in one group
10

Figure 7: During field day in Sinazongwe, farmers welcoming others from camps

11

Figure 8: During field day in Sinazongwe, last group being taken through & some farmers
posing for photo

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Figure 9: During field day in Sinazongwe, PAIO shooting the proceedings

4.0 Observations/Field issues

The farmers appreciated the field days and experiences were shared during the forums. The
crop stand in the demos was good considering the demos were planted late and the bad rain
pattern experienced last season. The differences in crop performance relative to treatments
was very visible as could be seen in some pictures above. The crop performance in fields with
fertilisers, herbicides application and pesticides (use of phorate in beans) was good compared
to controls where there was nothing.
The issues that came from the farmers included;
The concern over where to get seed as most of them were interested
Most of the interest expressed was in cowpeas, groundnuts, beans, pigeon peas and
soybeans in order of expressed demand from the farmers.
The farmers acknowledged the wrong practices they have been using such as no use
of fertilisers in legumes and no use of herbicides for cost-efficient production of

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crops. They also acknowledged the wrong specifications in terms of spacing and plant
populations they have been using.
The lead farmers were able to clearly articulate issues to their colleagues and were
able to lead the process of sharing experiences from the different camps.
Late delivery of inputs also came out strongly.

5.0 Challenges
The crops such as beans, cow peas and soy beans were dry at the time of the field
days and this made it difficult to demonstrate to farmers the actual plant difference in
terms of performance.

6.0 Conclusion
The field day was successfully conducted in the the district despite not meeting the target due
to limited capacity of the vehicles used for expo from the other camps. There was some
expressed interest (where to get seed) during the field days from the farmers who want to
adopt some of the technologies.

7.0 Recommendations/Way forward

As a way of promoting adoption of these technologies the concerns will be addressed as
follows;
Field days to be conducted around march in the coming seasons so that farmers can
see the crop performance relative to the treatments
The team will liase with the legume seed multiplication sub project and ZARI stations
close to the project areas for possible supply of the legume seed demanded by the
farmers.
The team will further strengthen the link with Kamano and Zamseed so as to ensure
these have the seed which they produce and that is part of the variety (Lukanga, ZMS
606, MGV5,MGV4 etc) being promoted to be stocked in agro shops.
During future field days and works, the seed companies will be part of the district
team providing technical expertise to the farmers.
The farmers have already been advised of where to get the seed for the ones available
in shops eg Lukanga, MGV 5, MGV4.
Inputs to be procured and distributed early preferably by end of October all the inputs
should be ready.

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