February 17, 2025
Weeding maize, Mongu, Western Zambia. Photo by Felix Clay:Duckrabbit, 2012. WorldFish.
By Lloyd Mbulwe (Ph.D), Acting Chief Agriculture Research Officer (CARO)-Crop Improvement and Agronomy (CIA). Zambia Agriculture Research Institute (ZARI), Ministry of Agriculture
Zambia has tremendous agricultural potential, with over half of its land being classified as prime for agriculture production. Our primary staple crops – maize, sorghum, millet, cassava and groundnuts – are mainly cultivated by smallholder farmers, who form the backbone of our agricultural sector.
However, the sector faces multiple, growing challenges. Rising temperatures and decreasing rainfall, especially in the southern and western regions, pose significant threats to agriculture, likely leading to reduced maize yields.
In light of these shifting climate conditions, developing climate-adapted crop varieties is crucial for the Zambia Agricultural Research Institute. By improving our breeding programs, we aim to introduce new varieties that can thrive under future climate scenarios, resist emerging pests and diseases, and ensure high yields to sustain our population, estimated at 21.9 million.
Modernizing crop breeding programs to develop better varieties, faster
In Zambia, the Ministry of Agriculture is investing in crop breeding activities to accelerate the development of improved crop varieties. Collaboration with international organizations like CGIAR, the world’s largest agricultural research network, is essential to supplement funding and modernize our breeding programs.
Traditionally, they have relied on direct observation for selecting parent plants to cross, which is the essence of crop breeding. But this approach is unreliable due to climate variations, disease prevalence and other factors. With the help of CGIAR Accelerated Breeding Initiative, and its work package Transform, we’ve secured financial support to invest in genotyping—a laboratory process that analyzes DNA sequences to confirm the presence of desired genetic traits in plants. This ensures that we are advancing the most promising crops to the next research stage without the need for expensive and variable field testing – or phenotyping.
Capacity development and innovative approaches
We’re also benefiting from capacity development to ensure our breeders adhere to international crop breeding standards. This includes development of breeding manuals and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) to guide high-quality data collection and streamline our processes.
Our breeders will receive training from CGIAR in modern techniques like marker-assisted selection to enhance breeding efficiency. We’re adopting innovative approaches like the Triadic Comparison of Technology Options (TRICOT), a citizen science method engaging farmers in testing and validating new crop varieties and technologies to best meet their needs.
With CGIAR’s assistance, we’ve digitized our processes, including migrating our data to a modern breeding data management platform. This upgrade will benefit our four key units: Crop Improvement and Agronomy, Plant Protection, Farming Systems, and Agribusiness.
Identifying gaps and aligning with national priorities
The funding and support we receive at ZARI directly support the priorities set by the Zambian government, guiding the modernization of our crop breeding programs.
To develop the crop varieties of tomorrow, it’s crucial to first understand the needs of seed companies, farmers, and consumers.
Through stakeholder engagements, known as Product Design Team (PDT) meetings, we identified key market segments critical to Zambia. This led us to develop Target Product Profiles (TPPs), outlining ideal characteristics of crop varieties needed to meet market demands, and now guiding our breeding work.
With Accelerated Breeding, comprehensive assessments of our breeding programs were conducted to identify gaps and refine our grant proposals. These assessments examined strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, pinpointing areas for improvement and providing recommendations. We also costed out breeding operations using the University of Queensland Breeding costing tool.
Armed with these insights— PDT meetings, breeding program assessments, and improvement plans—we successfully applied for sub-grants from the Accelerated Breeding Initiative to address gaps and scale up breeding operations.
Looking ahead
We will continue our collaboration with Transform and CGIAR Centers, focusing on strengthening capacity development for junior scientists. Our goal is to empower national teams by cultivating talent within Zambia and ensuring we can fully own the breeding process.
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