Factors influencing commercial livestock farming

Let us now look at the different Factors influencing commercial livestock farming, particularly in Zambia

• Diseases and pests
• Poor pasture especially during the dry seasons
• Water scarcity
• Market
• Traditions
• Thefts of livestock

Irrigation Agriculture

• This is the growing of crops in the dry part of the year by supplying water from rivers, boreholes, reservoirs e.t.c

Importance of Irrigation on Commercial Livestock

• Irrigation transforms bare land into areas of green vegetation.
• It enables the farmers to use a piece of land to produce crops two three times in a year.
• It is one way of increasing food production to achieve household and National food security (self-sufficiency)

Methods of Irrigation

The agriculture in Zambia uses several methods of irrigation, including the following:

• Use of Sprinklers
• Use of Canals
• Flooding system
• Over-head irrigation Areas of Irrigation
• Areas around Lusaka for green maize, vegetables, flowers and wheat.
• Chisamba area for green maize, vegetables, wheat and flowers.
• Mpongwe area mainly for wheat but also coffee.
• Mazabuka area for wheat and sugarcane.

Factors which makes necessary to undertake Large scale Irrigation in Nakambala

• Its flat land which gently slopes towards the river is ideal for irrigation.
• The presence of Kafue river and its tributaries as fallows are made from there.

Crops grown by Irrigation

• Maize (sweet corn), cabbage, tomatoes, onions, Irish potatoes, rape, carrots and green pepper for local market.
• Also roses, gladioli, fillers and vegetables such as baby corn, paprika, green beans, peas and asparagus for the export market are grown.

Positive effects of Irrigation

• It transforms bare land into an area of green vegetation
• If the land is planted with tree crops like coffee, bananas and tea, this increases the land’s retention of rainwater as ground water.
• Large scale growing of tree crops aided by irrigation makes the climate wetter in the long run.
• Growing crops twice or three times in a year increases food and raw material production in the country.

Negative effects of Irrigation

• Salination: when the land ids continuously used for irrigation, the fertilizer used make it saline and this reduce productivity.
• Water diseases: Irrigated areas have an increase I snails and mosquito populations which transmit bilharzias and malaria respectively.
• Fertilizers used on agricultural lands next to the river under irrigation will be washed into the river. This will lead to the growth of aquatic plants which may sometimes be obstacles to navigation on rivers.