Zambian-German Agricultural Training and Knowledge Centre (ATKC)

AFC Consultants International (lead company) in cooperation with DLG International, IAK Agrar Consulting and DEULA Nienburg was awarded the service contract for the development of the Zambian-German Agricultural Training and Knowledge Centre, a Private Public Partnership Project, financed under the Economic Cooperation Programme of the German Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL).

Project Partners are the Zambian National Farmers Union (ZNFU) and the Golden Valley Agricultural Research Trust (GART). German project partners are manufactures of agricultural machinery, irrigation equipment, seeds and chemicals (Amazone, Bayer Crop Science, Beinlich, Claas, Europlant, Grimme, Fliegl, Lemken, Pöttinger,  Rauch, Riela and Solana). Other German and Zambian private and public partners are expected to join the project in the course of implementation.

The project is situated at the GART research station near Chisamba, approx. 70 km north of Lusaka, where 60-80 ha arable land will be made available for demonstration and trial areas.

The project objective is to establish and run a training and knowledge centre on the GART research station site, which can offer praxis oriented training in modern agricultural machinery and sustainable agricultural production to farmers.

Beneficiariesof the project will be technical staff from agricultural farms and enterprises (tractor drivers, agronomists, and machinery service staff), farm manager, staff from machinery rings and agricultural service providers, traders of agricultural machinery and staff from agricultural training and education institutions.

The three envisaged results of the project are:

1.       The project is established as a platform for technology transfer and training and has established a network within the country / region.

2.       On the demonstration fields modern technique and cultivation methods can be demonstrated

3.       Beneficiaries are – through training – qualified to apply modern technique and cultivation methods in sustainable wheat and potato production and are able to use modern agricultural machinery and inputs efficiently.

With the arrival of the three long-term experts on site, project activities have started on the 1^st of August 2014. A detailed implementation plan is presently elaborated in cooperation with the local project partners, the demonstration fields for the first growing season in 2014 will be selected and a training needs assessment will be conducted. First trainings are expected to start as soon as all machinery is on site and the preparation for the cultivation on the demonstration plots starts in October.

Contact Person: tesa.weiss [at] afci.de