Soya beans is an important legume plant that is cultivated all over the world, not only as a major source of protein in livestock feeds but also for human consumption, soil fertility improvement among others.

Africa's majority population depends on agriculture and this shows how important the sector is but still the continent is faced with food insecurities, poor livelihoods and malnutrition levels in the midst of climate Change compounding productivity levels of the legume.

Despite soybean being a natural fertilisation of soil suitable for cultivation on a wide variety of soils in changing climates famers are faced with lack of credit funds and recycling of seeds are way too expensive for small scale famers which hinders their adoption levels of the crop.

To mitigate these challenges, soybean as a legume can play an important role in ensuring sustainable food security in Africa as it is a source of protein and nutrients for famers especially in rural households.

It is against this background that the institute of international tropical agriculture (IITA) has partnered with ten African countries in developing strategies to strengthen soybean improvement network for Africa through research projects,

Government says it is committed to partner with international organizations and other countries to improve production of soybean among farmers that aims at attaining food production and productivity.

Minister of Agriculture Reuben Mtolo said government is committed to partner with international organisations and other private sectors to improve the production of soybean among farmers to enhance market access.

Mr Mtolo said this move will help in fostering income growth, improve nutrition and national economic development.

“Our target in Zambia is to improve the delivery of agriculture innovations and produce one million metric tons of soybean by the year 2027,” he stated.

The minister was speaking through a speech read on his behalf by Ministry of Agriculture Permanent Secretary for Administration Yvonne Mpundu during the launch of the Strengthening soybean improvement network for Africa and consultative group of the international agricultural research public private partnership held in Lusaka recently.

And a Soybean Breeder Godfrey Chigeza from Institute Of International Tropical Agriculture (IITA) says the production of soybean has reduced due to soybean rust and droughts which is a major problem faced by Small scale farmers.

Mr Chigeza explained that poor farming practices have become a problem and farmers need to be trained through capacity building to improve farming practices especially in areas that have acidic soils contributes massively to challenges of growing soyabean.

He expressed concern on the decline of markets for soybean which needs concerted efforts from government and private sector.

 “IITA has introduced agronomic practices and they are working with different partners to work on rust tolerance for soybean improvement,” he stated.

And the Zambia Agricultural Research Institute (ZARI) Director Dickson Ng’uni said despite the low production of soybean in most parts of the country, the production contributes significantly to the value chain.

Dr Ng’uni stated that the demand for the legume is driven by agriculture and livestock industry for feed formulation and human consumption because of its nutritious supplements contributing significantly to the economy and the sub sector for job creation along the value chain.

And the United States Agency for International Developed (USAID) Research Manager Wordofa Hailu stated that USAID support for soybean research for development is part of the feed the future (FTF) initiative to contribute in achieving food security.

Mr Hailu emphasized that support from USAID will help in inclusive and sustainable agriculture practices and cross cutting in order to improve gender equality especially women and youths to diversify their farm enterprises and to improve in market access.

Soybean increase in Africa can be achieved through research and FTF support activities such as climate smart agriculture practices to provide opportunities for small scale farmers through technology and knowledge generated through USAID supported FTF innovation lab across the soybean value chain.

The genetic improvement to soybean rust tolerance should be given high priority and it must be a “must have “trait when releasing new varieties and new breeding models,” Mr Hailu stated.

Meanwhile director of Soybean Innovaition Lab (SIL) Dr. Brian Driers said that plant breeding research project like pan African variety tester will help on selection of soybean crop variety to improve yields.

“We are working on developing Artificial intelligence (AI) models that can help to predict performance of the variety on new environments including soil type data to help in production,” he said.

He said their focus has moved from research to technology adaptation on breeding programs and crop varieties which are being released for identifying agronomic practices to benefit the growers.

SIL is working with IITA and other seed companies like Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to speed up the commercialization of soybean varieties to expand breeding efforts in Africa.

Mr Driers emphasized the need for multi-sectorial engagements in improving activities that are suitable for the environment for soybean value chain development in Africa.

Despite climate change shocks, soybean has the potential to become a commercial crop owing to its wide range of uses as food, feed and industrial raw material, hence the need to improve on market access of soybean to enhance sustainable food security in Africa. -NAIS