GIZ   EMPOWERS  FIELD  STAFF  WITH  TABLETS

By GLORIA SIWISHA

THE Electronic Participatory Integrated Climate Services for Agriculture (E-PICSA) project, has handed-over 150 tablets to agricultural extension officers in Eastern Province.

The initiative supported by (GIZ), is aimed at enhancing the field staff’s ability to deliver climate and agronomic information to smallholders, so that they were able to make better farming decisions to cope with climate challenges.

The E-PICSA project introduces two key digital innovations, which include an automated system for National Meteorological Services that delivers location-specific climate data, and a decision support app, tailored for farmers and agricultural field staff.

Officiating at the hand-over ceremony in Chipata, Ministry of Agriculture Senior Irrigation Engineer Bernard Chungu, emphasised the need for the officers to use the digital tools to empower farmers with relevant information needed for them to increase production and yields.

He said the province had been struck with the negative effects of climate change and as such the E-PICSA project was coming in to build capacity in the officers, to provide digital solutions, so as to help farmers produce effectively and plan their farming accordingly.

“Colleagues I want to urge that the digital training should not end here but we must ensure that we go and train our farmers so that the knowledge and skills acquired here, help them to produce effectively; they are able to raise their yields, and ultimately increase their production and productivity,” he said.  

E-PICSA project Junior Technical Advisor Danny Kashiba said the E-PICSA was in essence, a digital support tool for agricultural extension and climate services.

Mr Kashiba said it builds on the Participatory Integrated Climate Services for Agriculture (PICSA) approach, developed by the University of Reading, and provides historical climate data, alongside timely forecasts in English and local languages, to help farmers make informed decisions about their farms.

 “We have so far offered digital training to 66 extension officers in the two districts where we piloted the project, that’s Chipata and Petauke, but right now, we are working on a scaling-up process where we intend to reach more extension officers; so we are transitioning to more districts in Eastern Province as we want to reach a bigger target of smallholder farmers that are impacted by the approach,” he said.

Mr Kashiba also said the initial phase of the project managed to train 7,500 farmers in the E-PICSA approach, and that 85 percent of those trained had since made adaptation changes in crops, livestock or livelihood enterprises. 

“We have realised that the overall impact of the project has been amazing where we have had more smallholder farmers making improved decisions about agriculture and improving food security in their households; so this year, we intend on reaching another 7,500 farmers as we transition to other districts in Eastern Province,” he said.

Lumezi District Agricultural Coordinator Dalitso Daka, commended the German Development Organisation (GIZ) for the gesture.

“Information should not be locked up in books or on paper but should easily be accessible by farmers so, we are very happy that we have been co-opted into the project together with the rest of Eastern Province. I would like to urge the extension officers to maximize the usage of the tablets by loading as much information as possible, that would be of great benefit to our farmers,” he said.

Chipangali-based camp extension officer Thandiwe Maunga said the digital tool she had been empowered with, would ease her work.

“I wasn’t able to reach -out to all the 2,000 farmers in my camp but now that I have been given a tablet, my work will be easier,” she said.

The E-PICSA project was first launched in Chipata and Petauke districts in 2022, and is now being scaled-up to all 15 districts of Eastern Province.

Its goal is to empower smallholder farmers to make informed decisions that strengthen their resilience to climate change, enhance crop yields, and ensure household food security.

The project has an investment budget of 3 Million Euros for both Zambia and Malawi, and is steered locally by the Ministries of Agriculture, and Green Economy and Environment.-NAIS