AICCRA displays climate adaptation innovations at the Zambia agriculture and commercial show
August 2, 2025
Sibeso Consent showing visitors some of the existing technologies in cassava seed systems.
As part of efforts to support and encourage MSMEs, cooperatives, and stakeholders to showcase products and services that respond to climate-related challenges in the agriculture sector, the Zambia Ministry of Small and Medium Enterprise provided an enabling space for key actors at the 2025 Zambia Agriculture and Commercial Show under the theme “Adapting to Climate Change.”
From 30 July to 4 August, the show with a theme, which strongly resonates with the mission of the Accelerating Impacts of CGIAR Climate Research for Africa (AICCRA) Zambia project, will help participants connect with last mile users. With AICCRA at the forefront of helping smallholder farmers adapt to climate change through science-based, locally tailored solutions, the 97th Zambia Agriculture and Commercial Show creates the platform for displaying five key innovations designed to address critical challenges facing Zambia agriculture sector.
As Zambia continues to face climate-related threats ranging from erratic rainfall and prolonged droughts to extreme heat, AICCRA Zambia is equipping farmers with climate-smart agriculture (CSA), innovative technologies, and climate information services.
With over 300,000 smallholder farmers reached, more than a third of whom are women, AICCRA is actively contributing to building climate resilience, improving livelihoods, and ensuring sustainable agricultural growth across the country.
Visitors at the AICCRA booth during the Zambia agriculture and commercial show.
By working with public and private partners, AICCRA Zambia empowers farmers especially women and youth to anticipate and respond to climate shocks. One of the initiative’s cornerstones is its Accelerator Program, which mitigates the risks of climate investments and helps agribusinesses scale CSA technologies, such as solar-powered irrigation systems, multi-stress tolerant seed varieties, sustainable water management, and mechanization.
The IWMI display stand at the Zambia agriculture and commercial show.
The project’s bundled innovation approach tailor solutions to specific challenges in key value chains including groundnuts, maize, soybeans, livestock, and aquaculture. These solutions enhance resource efficiency, promote diversification, and introduce labor-saving technologies ensuring farmers are equipped to maintain productivity and improve livelihoods in the face of an evolving climate.
At this year’s show, AICCRA Zambia is displaying five key innovations:
Agricultural Water Management(IWMI) – Increasing biophysical, social, and economic water productivity through scale-appropriate and context-specific water use interventions for smallholders.
Integrated Aquaculture-Agriculture Systems(WorldFish) – Promoting sustainable integration of fish farming, crop production, and livestock, including access to resilient fish seed and training for producers. A virtual field trip will spotlight farmer success stories from Mansa, Luwingu, and Kasama.
Climate-Smart Seed Varieties(IITA) – Enhancing access to drought- and disease-tolerant crop varieties through partnerships across the seed value chain.
Mechanization for Smallholders(CIMMYT) – Reducing labor intensity and boosting productivity with accessible machinery tailored to small-scale farmers.
Youth Innovation(Green Giraffe –i2G Program) – Supporting young entrepreneurs through AICCRA Zambia’s Innovation and Internship Grant (i2G), which nurtures local climate-smart innovations. Green Giraffe, a top performer in the 2023 innovation challenge, is now commercially producing climate solutions born from the program.
As Zambia rallies to adapt its agriculture sector to the climate crisis, AICCRA Zambia stands as a leading example of science and innovation in action, forging a pathway for others to follow through partnerships, inclusivity, and community-driven change.
Contributed by Rachel Namukolo-Nali
Olamide Deborah Nwanze is a Senior Research Associate specializing in gender mainstreaming research to inform participatory and inclusive breeding, variety development, and seed systems policies regarding root, tuber, and banana (RTB) crops in the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture Headquarters, Ibadan, Nigeria. She is a PhD candidate at the University of Ibadan and holds an MSc and B. Agric in Agricultural Extension and Rural Development. Olamide is a fellow of the African Women in Agricultural Research and Development – Gender Responsive Agricultural Systems Policy (AWARD-GRASP) and the Gender Responsive Researchers Equipped for Agricultural Transformation (GREAT). She seeks to apply her gender-mainstreaming learnings, gender-responsive research, and policy development, and review expertise to facilitate women, youth, children, and vulnerable social group’s access to and adoption of agricultural Innovations that guarantee food, nutrition, income, and livelihood security in Africa. Her current roles include mentoring research fellows, development of guides and training manuals, implementation and adaptation of gender frameworks and tools, value chain actors’ engagement as citizen science partners, policy review and redesign, data management, and analysis. Her current research explores mixed methods and participatory and interdisciplinary approaches to capture and highlight gender dynamics, needs, preferences, and challenges stakeholders face within the agricultural livelihood value chain to prioritize gender-inclusive strategies in breeding programs, policy design, and implementation.
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