Africa Can Feed Itself

Surrounded by tangled shrubland, Wisdom Mababe’s farm in central Zambia seems incongruously neat. “In 2002, when I started, it was bare bush,” he says. Each year since, he has bulldozed an area the size of 40 football pitches. Maize grows in ordered rows; cattle graze behind a fence. “The land, the water, it’s in abundance,” he gushes. Beyond his fields, the tall grass waves.

For most of its history, sub-Saharan Africa has been short of people, not land. In 2011 the World Bank estimated that the region had 200m hectares of suitable land that was not being used for crops—almost half of the world’s total, and more than the cultivated area of America. That potential excites many. “Africa is the future breadbasket of the world,” says Ephraim Nkonya of the International Food Policy Research Institute, a think-tank in Washington, DC.

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Growing Soybeans101

Soybeans are a leguminous vegetable of the pea family that grows in tropical, subtropical and temperature climates. It was domesticated at around 11th century in northeast China. It is believed it might have been introduced to Africa in the 19th century by the Chinese traders along the east coast of Africa.

Soybean Variety Selection
Arguably the greatest tool in modern soybean farming is the ability to hand-select traits preferred in a soybean variety. Between disease and herbicide traits, maturity selection, and stand ability and shattering options, farmers can start the growing season with more control than ever over how the following months will go.

Later maturing soybean varieties tend to have higher yields, but the highest-yielding varieties aren’t always the most profitable for growers. It’s advisable to balance yield potential with other management costs.

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Shanga Ubone

The phrase that pays
PAN 53 famously known as shanga Ubone in Zambian local dialect is one hybrid seed variety which has surpassed any expectations of both the farmers and researchers at large, time and time again.

Visiting PAN 53 farmers across the country, one cannot help but notice the impact the seed has had on farmers’ lives over the years. Benefits such as attaining higher yields, building modern houses, buying farm equipment, enjoying food security and many more are some of the resounding success stories from those who have embraced quality seeds.After seeing how his neighbours were excelling, he decided to venture into his own farming activities. With limited equipment, he started as a peasant farmer, but he did not see any progress until he started planting PAN 53 seed variety. He first saw PAN 53 maize variety in his neighbours farm and was motivated to ask which variety he grew. “Upon asking, I was shocked as my neighbour told me; Shanga Ubone. Thinking it was a big joke, my neighbour repeated the same answer, Shanga Ubone. Only then I realised PAN 53, had been christened Shanga Ubone due to the yields the farmers had experienced. I looked for the PAN 53 variety and immediately planted it, because I wanted to experience what I saw there and today I can only echo my neighbour to all my friends Shanga Ubone,” he explains.

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