Transplanting sorghum and pearl Millet as a means of increasing food security in semi-arid, low-income countries
A project funded by DFID based at the Centre for Arid Zone Studies, University of Wales, Bangor and Save Valley Experiment Station, South East Zimbabwe.
 
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Increasing food security and reduction of risk is a recurring theme in the agricultural development programmes of the 1990s. Shortage of water is the most serious physical constraint on production in semi-arid areas. The project introduced in the following pages over the next three years will target these areas with subsistence farmers in the semi-arid areas of Zimbabwe. Through attempting to minimize the risk of failed crops, patchy stands and costs of replanting.

The project is based on the premise that supplementary water can be used more efficiently if applied at the beginning rather than at the end of the season. It is suggested that raising some proportion of sorghum and millet crops in nurseries using small amounts of water before the rainy season and transplanting seedlings at the onset of rains could be a way of extending the growing season in short duration areas. Thus providing an extra dimension to food security.

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This document is an output from a project funded by the UK Department For International Development (DFID) for the benefit of developing countries. The views expressed are not necessarily those of DFID.

The Centre for Arid Zone Studies (CAZS), University of Wales, Bangor is a UK registered charity. This web site and its contents are copyright by CAZS. All rights are reserved and may not be reproduced or quoted without permission.

Produced April 2000 by Andrea Mottram
Last updated 3rd April 2003