Februray 13, 2025

This blogpost is a reproduction of the abstract of a paper based on FoSTA-Health research being conducted by Peter Yiga, Pui Yee Tan, Stephen Whitfield, Yun Yun Gong (University of Leeds); Christian Chomba (ACF Zambia), Andrea Menefee, Patrick Kalenga, Caitlin Shannon (Care International Zambia and USA), Tabita Mfune (University of Zambia) 

The food environment in Zambia is increasingly becoming obesogenic. This is mainly a result of  lack of cross-sectoral policies, and a lack of explicit regulations to manage transitions in the food systems. The current policy landscape and perception among policy makers is to focus on bottom-up approaches, to force the industry into fundamental changes. This needs to be combined with top-down approaches, involving dialogue on key issues with the food industry.

Transitioning to agroecology is a powerful and necessary shift toward more sustainable and resilient agricultural systems. It involves moving away from industrial farming practices that often harm the environment and instead adopting practices that work with nature.

Willem Colenbrander shares his reflections after attending the World One Health Congress (WOHC) in Cape Town from 20 to 23 September 2024 and reports on his experiences on behalf of Kulima Integrated Development Solutions.

by CARE Austria Team, on behalf of FoSTA-Health
October 16, 2024

Countries such as Malawi, South Africa, Zambia and Tanzania are facing the challenge of making their food systems crisis-proof in order to reduce hunger in the region and provide healthy food for the population. FoSTA-Health is paving the way for more sustainable agriculture and food security in Southern Africa.  

by Katharine Vincent and Willem Colenbrander
August 19, 2024

FoSTA-Health team members Katharine Vincent and Willem Colenbrander share some thoughts on what they learned from exhibitors at Zambia’s national agricultural show in August 2024.

By Gildas Assogba and Rohit Pawar, Wageningen University; Anthony Malunga, CARE Malawi 
July 2, 2024 

In a previous post (March 2024), we had reported our experiences and lessons learnt while setting up field trials in Southern Malawi (Mangochi and Zomba districts). In the trials, intercropping of maize with pigeon pea, groundnut, and soybean are being compared with maize-only cropping under different fertilization regimes; in terms of yields (grain and biomass), inputs (seeds and nutrients), nutrient uptake by crops, labour requirement and profitability. The broad objective is to ascertain the best modalities of integrating legumes within maize-centric production systems that dominate southern Africa. 

As of May 2024, harvest at the trial plots has begun: all the maize has already been harvested, and the harvest of groundnut was expected to be completed in early June is underway. Pigeon pea will be harvested in July.