Part One of Two Parts
Zambia is a land-locked nation in south central Africa. It occupies almost three hundred thousand square miles and has a population of about sixteen million five hundred thousand people. The agricultural sector of the Zambian economy provides about six and a half percent of the national GDP. It accounts for just under ten percent of the nation’s exports. The agricultural sector employs about half of the Zambian labor force. Despite these facts, the agricultural industry is the least developed industry in Zambia and it has huge growth potential.
The Zambia Agriculture Research Institute (ZARI), is a program of the Zambian Agricultural Ministry. ZARI is currently operating multiple research projects. The primary objective of the ZARI research projects is to “…provide a high quality, appropriate and cost-effective service to farmers in generating and adapting crop, soil and plant protection technologies.” There is great opportunity to advance agriculture in Zambia through science and technology.
Zambia recently signed an agreement with the Russia-owned firm Rosatom to create a new Centre for Nuclear Science and Technology (CNST) in Lusaka, the Zambian capital. This new project is expected to help Zambia with its energy problems through the construction of nuclear power reactors. Water levels in its hydro-electric dams have been at record lows recently and power rationing can be in effect for as much as fourteen hours a day. Beyond the use of nuclear technology for energy generation, many techniques have developed with nuclear science for soil conservation and agricultural development.
One major use of nuclear science in agriculture has been dealing with pests that threaten crops. Pests can spread diseases that can reduce crop yields by forty percent or more costing millions of dollars. Currently, spraying pesticides is a major response to pests but these pesticides often have a negative impact on the environment. Toxic residues can remain on plants and be passed to human beings. In addition, as pests develop resistance to popular pesticides, more powerful and toxic pesticides must be used.
The Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) has been used in Australia to control fruit fly infestations. The SIT employs nuclear radiation from commercial isotopes to sterilize millions of female fruit flies raised in a laboratory. Next, the sterile flies are released into the wild in the targeted area to mate with wild male fruit flies. Because the sterile female flies produce no offspring, the overall population of fruit flies drops, reducing the threat to crops. The irradiated flies pose no threat to the environment because the treatment does not make them radioactive.
In Zambia, Tsetse flies are a serious problem that impacts livestock as well as the human population by spreading sleeping sickness, a disease that affect both animals and humans and can be fatal. The UN estimates that the sleeping sickness spread by the flies kills as many as three million animals every year with an estimated cost of four billion dollars. The SIT could be the solution to the problems posed by the Tsetse flies.
Please read Part Two
Zambian flag:
