Evaluation of the Food Diversification Support Project (FoDiS) project in Chongwe District, Zambia and the need for well-trained agriculturalists and rural farmers

This paper reports on an evaluation of a project titled Food Diversification Support Project (FoDiS) under the Ministry of Agriculture whose objective was to improve food security of farming communities in drought prone areas of Zambia through promotion of non-maize food crops such as roots and tubers, legumes and traditional cereals. A research survey was done in Chongwe to assess the impact of the project on the targeted farmers. The results revealed that the project had helped the farmers increase their food security by introducing drought tolerant crops. The project also trained farmers in utilization and preservation of food and facilitated the diversification of crops and increased income. The evaluation recommended that (a) there should be emphasis on training students in monitoring and evaluation, (b) both the farmer and the students need to have at least basic entrepreneurial skills with emphasis on value addition of the end product, and (c) there is need for students to have the necessary indigenous knowledge to adapt their academic training with real life situations and have a knowledge of the traditions and values of the places they will be working in so that they are more relevant to the farmers.