Agritech Expo Zambia to offer workshops on armyworm and aquaculture

The upcoming, multi-award winning Agritech Expo at GART in Chisamba will offer free workshops with practical advice and live demonstrations to help farmers combat challenges such as the armyworm invasion, explore new technologies such as aquaculture, and learn from experts on improving efficiency and yields on their farms.

US Department of State via Wikimedia Commons

Armyworm and aquaculture

The Armyworm Combat Workshop will take place on Saturday, 29 April and will provide an opportunity for agri-institutions and all scale farmers to take part in discussions and contribute to creating an effective battle plan to avoid a similar crisis in the future. The session will be led by Dr Anton Chapoto, director of research at the Indaba Agriculture Policy Research Institute (IAPRI).

The Aquaculture Development Association of Zambia (ADAZ), a supporting association of Agritech Expo Zambia, are amongst the experts who will address farmers during the free workshops at the event. “With the deficit in supply of fish by the local market, and the inability by capture fisheries to meet the demand for fish, only through fish farming as a business shall we meet this demand,” says Mulolwa Simposya, ADAZ acting executive manager. He adds “the aquaculture sector has a very high potential for alleviating poverty for many small-scale farmers while increasing the sector’s contribution to the national GDP.”

Agritech Expo Zambia workshops programme:

Thursday, 27 April 2017 - Commercial Farmers Focus Day workshops

Theme: Advancing commercial farming through financial support and innovation

Topics:

• Integrated, low-risk crop protection solutions
• Cash flow-based solutions
• Breakthrough microbial formulations
• Key fundamentals of finance and farm management

Friday, 28 April – Saturday, 29 April - Interactive training workshops

Theme: Shaping today’s farmers through smarter additions

Topics:

• Sustainable disease management
• Financial skills
• Advanced crop nutrition
• Increasing crop productivity
• Effects of nitrogen on yield
• Poultry broiler and layer houses
• Generate energy from chicken waste
• Integrating fish farming with conventional crops

Saturday, 29 April - Armyworm Combat workshop

Theme: Arresting the armyworm’s evolved nature to revive the agri economy’s livelihood

Topics:

• Natural orientation: Introduction to the armyworm crisis in Zambia
• Panel discussion: Identifying battle plans to defeat the armyworm parasite

Agritech Expo Zambia 2017 will take place at the Gart Research Centre, Chisamba, Zambia from 27-29 April 2017.