mb ac c o div si ca ion

should embrace crop

diversi cation in the wake o climate change to ensure ood security, ambia Agriculture Research Institute ARI has said

ZARI researcher, Steven Chileshe, explained that crop diversification was one of the measures farmers should take up to ensure that they were food secure in the advent of climate change.

Mr Chileshe said, as an agriculture researcher it was gratifying to note that already some farmers had welcomed the idea of diversifying crop production.

e said this in an interview in hisamba when ne Acre Fund conducted a field tour of farmers who have ventured into crop diversification.

“In the advent of climate change, I believe crop diversification is one of those things that farmers can embrace to make sure that they are food secure,” Mr Chileshe said.

Mr Chileshe also urged farmers to incorporate the orange maize in the maize production which was rich in vitamin A. He said planting orange mai e would add to the nutritional value of the crop and improve the health status of the people s as it was a pro vitamin crop.

“As much as farmers promote the growth of mai e they should incorporate pro vitamin orange mai e for their nutritional status,” he said. ne cre und has provided a variety of crops to about 18 000 farmers in Kapiri Mposhi, Chibombo, and Chisamba districts under its farmer support programme to promote crop diversification.