Zambia Agriculture Research Institute (ZARI) in Luapula Province has successfully completed the development of 15 new varieties of vitamin A fortified sweet potatoes.
The research to fortify the sweet potatoes has taken seven years at a cost of US$30,000 financed by the Rockefeller Foundation of the United States of America.
ZARI programme officer at Mansa Research Station Dr Martin Chiona confirmed the development of the fortified sweet potatoes to ZANIS today during the Provincial Agriculture and Commercial show.
Dr Chiona, who worked on the fotification research as part of his doctorate,
said the new sweet potato varieties have Vitamin A content of up to 13 percent higher than that of carrot which has only a maximum of seven percent.
He said the sweet potato varieties have passed the evaluation stage and are just waiting for the National Variety Release Committee to endorse their release on the market.
He said fortifying sweet potatoes is a unique option that will provide a cheaper and accessible source of Vitamin A supplement to most low income households in Luapula Province where high deficiency of Vitamin A has been identified as a cause to blindness.
He disclosed that the new sweet potato varieties will have an orange colour inside but retain high dry matter which is a preference taste for most local consumers.
ZANIS
Ok good to see some research results taking place in Zambia. But not to star a war here, I just want to ask one question. Ist this GMO food? Has Zambia not banned GMO food? Can I now import GMO maize into Zambia?
at least luapula is in productive news.. Good job batubulu for good work. U can be of use to this country with this kind of productivity not stealing all the time from national coffers.
This is great news for low income families in Luapula province.
So can it be exported so we diversify our foreign income only from copper. :)>-
why for luapula households only? atleast Mongu rice is enjoyed countywide
and they are safe? ok,good.
#5 Luapula has the highest incidence of blindness in the country due to lack of vitamin A in the protein rich diet. There was also another programme in Luapula which tried to encourage people to use palm oil in their diets so as to increase their vitamin A intake. The money seems to have been well spent considering the project lasted for 7 years – $30000 is not a lot of money.
Well done ZARI, Mansa. We v always wondered what those research buildings were there for. Atleast we know they are there for a purpose. Govt is not just wasting tax payers’ money to pay research workers. They are doing something. Dr. Chiona can you also test the good staff we eat at Mukando grown by the Lalas called Umumbu. What vitamins are there, can there be any other ways of preparing/serving it, cant it be grown in Luapula as well. It’s also some good staff to eat.
This is one of the best food we should be eating as Zambians as compared to Nshima which is eaten three(3) times per day in some parts of our country. As much as Nshima has helped us to grow it lacks a lot of vitamins for us to grow health. It is encouraging when people have variety of food to choose from.
#2,I can’t stop laughing my God.Any way,well done Zambia for the vitamin A enriched potatoes.Please take it further by exporting them world wide.I had dinner at my friend’s house the other day and when i reached for a bottle of chili,my friend told me that the chili sauce was actually a Zambian product.She told me that she bought it from Asda which is a supermarkets here in The UK .I must say that made me feel very proud and realised that Zambians have the potential and can do better that just steal public money. When i go shopping next time in Asda,I will definitely buy this Zambian chili sauce and am looking forward to buying Zambian vitmin A fortified sweet potatoes here in UK. Thank you ZARI.
#10 I know the chili sauce you are talking about it is very good. I remember meeting the Zambian lady who produces it before it went on the market. It is very good and very successful. I also met another Zambian guy here in UK who had produced an improved instant custard. I wonder how his product is doing.
That is very good impofu shalachepa I hope so!!!!!. From the look of things Zambians as individuals can really do better but nga twalundamo Alaabee + Dola = Sata – HH nishi yazanda no progress everyday the same stupid issues. Congrats you guys in mansa
Zambia Agriculture Research Institute
Well done.
Once cleared it needs to be supported by government to allow a huge build up of “Seed” to grow it all over Zambia ready for it to explode onto the export list.
For $30,000 its a good project.
I was exicted when I saw the heading until I saw the Rockefeller name was involved. Readers be warned this is a very sinister family with their name linked back hundreds and hundreds of years when they founded secret societies hell bent on bringing in on the new world order that banishes all religious beliefs and bring in only one religion, which I am sure you know what it is. They are not the only ones behind it tho and everything you watch on tv and read is brainwashing you into accepting what is coming, your mind is been conditioned. Africa and Africans are not on this new order and the desired population.
I am sorry but this is not what it seems it is very sinister and I wish all could see what is going on here. There is a war between good and evil happening right now.
LT why are you not showing my comment? Are you part of the evil Rockefeller get up?
Impressed until I saw the Rockefeller name was involved. Readers be warned this is a very sinister family with their name linked back hundreds and hundreds of years when they founded secret societies hell bent on bringing in on the new world order that banishes all religious beliefs and bring in only one religion, which I am sure you know what it is. They are not the only ones behind it tho and everything you watch on tv and read is brainwashing you into accepting what is coming, your mind is been conditioned. Africa and Africans are not on this new order and the desired population.
I am sorry but this is not what it seems it is very sinister and I wish all could see what is going on here. There is a war between good and evil happening right now.
This is very weird!! I am trying to say the Rockefeller name is very sinister and this not what it seems. Africa’s well being is not the top of the agenda and this is sinister with a friendly front. There is a war between good and evil and we are all been brainwashed into accepting a new order that eliminates all religions but one. Do not fall for this. I am trying to explain but very strangely that comment is not showing up tho other comments I make are. Be careful what you listen to and watch. The end is near.
# 1 yes it is GMO for sure because the genetic information in those plants was manipulated to make them produce more vitamins.But i should say i can see no harm in that.GMO`s are still a Controversial area of science cz no one knows for sure what might happen if GMO and Indigenous plants genetic information were to be mixed.
I hate to rain on your parade all positive comments above but this not what it seems. There is a reason HIV has no cure and no vaccine for malaria when science is cloning and making human beings without even needing human cells. And they are going to help you get vitamins by doing what? Who is that again? Rockefeller?! Just google that name see what you come up with. Infact google ‘Rockefeller 13 families’. The family happens to have their fingers in everything from media to politics.
Educate yourself.
senior pontist
You mean thats all you can say about the people from Luapula Province,Chi colour,silly rabbit!
While you are it, fortify RB brains as well
I once read ,years ago, that some university in Ghana had developed a sweet potato variety which was free of the sweet and recommendations were that people could now eat it like irish potatoes. But up to now that potato is no where at the market.I hope that this scientific innovatin will be of benefit to all the people in zambia let alone the entire world of potato eating people. So congratulations all the people who were involved in this novelty.
This good news not ony to zambia but the who world at large.Nobel prize should be considered
So this “news” is supposed to make us over joyed at the “scientific developments” in Zambia? Your friends in America are making planes that fly 800 people at a go, producing I-phones, etc and then you talk about Kandolo which has been infused with vitamin A as though it’s a major scientific contribution that will change the way we know the world today?!! Give me a break!! After all. that staff only kamas me on my throat whenever I swallow it.
For real nimwebo ba tubulu. This is the third poorest province in Zambia and the educated are busy stealing in Lusaka. This is the only province where you can be an MP forever as long as you can jump from one winning team to the other even if you do not offer anything e.g Peter Machungwa and Katele Kalumba. Mr Kalumba has been an MP for Chiengi for many years and this area is the least developed in zambia. This is a province where ministry of health can distribute mosquito nets in the morning by evening they are turned into fishing nets, shame. Why don’t you emulate us northerners? we farm and our ways of life are improved, ichilemba.
Luapula fwe I really wonder.
They can do a research but these people are too short sited. They are not eager to improve their living standards, they like short term things like stolen fast money. This is a province with the highest manutrition rate cases in zambia. Children die in hospitals everyday because of manutrition, I was so shocked the last I was doing a research in the area.
WAY TO GO, BRILLIANT. MY OWN SADNESS IS THAT IT NEEDED THE AMERICANS TO SUPPORT SUCH A CHEAP RESEARCH? WHY? OUR OWN RESEARCH DONS CAN DO WONDERS IF ONLY WE SUPPORT, DOCUMENT THEIR WORKS & FUND THEM ADQUATELY.
The eye, you very well know that all those developments are several years ahead of us. THis is a huge step for the research station on such a small budget in that part of the country. Dont be so quick to put down some pretty good efforts. It is a relevant project, for the area and the people.
#15: Sharp, no westerner of any stripe is going to give you money for nothing. Not even religious organizations; they are all darn dirty rotten scoundrels, toxic to the core. Their motto: What’s in it for me?
You chat here not in your Zambian lingo, there’s something for them.
You dress not your Afro garb, they planned it.
You have not your own education system, they want it that way.
You worship not your ancestral gods, they finessed it in you.
They got you every which way!
With all that and more, surely, sweet potatoes are but a pee drop in Lake Kariba.
#21 – Stuff you are talking about is eating up the natural resources in huge chunks! You have no clue how much life Africa is giving up just for a computer motherboard. What you see in Mansa is what should be encouraged, not useless toys. Come on!!!
Think big but return to small and see what makes big. This insatiable appetite for colorful gizmos is killing your people, wiping out populations at home and abroad to feed the egos of fat cats in the west and pleasing to the undiscerning eye of people like yourself. The stuff you are talking about is not sustainable!
i totally agree with sharp. the name Rockefeller is associated with every evil thing. even the new world order. i cant even eat these sweetpotatos!!
Wait a minute,this sweet potatoe is only new in luapula cos other areas in Zambia already have it.I remember eating orange ish coloured sweet potatoes back home in the eastern province am I right?
CHINGOFWE PAKUMINA, utiise the Lakes not kandolo, it depends on the rain. but that is a national news iwe CHI CHOMBA #22. what is in kasama that is not planted in Luapula chomba wesu.:-?:-?:-?
Rockefeller bla bla bla you pipo should avoid being so superstitious.I am yet to learn about a big name or celebrity that hasn`t been linked to satanism.Use you head to judge things pipo not your fear of the unknown.We know this things even Obama hasn`t been left out of this pit latrine kind of thinking.Give praise where it is due…..
#22, 23 Chomba
We know that you are not from northern province. You are among those people who put on white shoes, red trousers, green shirt, yellow jacket and blue hat. Please spear us from your infiriority complex man.
32- your comment contradicts your name5r. These people do not belong to the average village monger witchcraft who crash land on roofs or the ones who drink weird potions to get rich fast. This a much more sophisticated organisation thats been around for decades. Even the dollar bill seal has all these answers for you if you open your eyes to see. It is not just about satanism, that is just part of it.
It is not about linking any one, it is just stating the obvious. How many celebs are walking around wearing the devil’s face on their clothes and jewellery? How many are using satanist symbols in their videos and photos? Watch Lady Gaga’s new song Alejendro. If you are really looking to learn you just need to watch two minutes of it and thats just 1. They are taking it very serious.
# 34-Much as i appreciate your level of thinking to a certain level I still find it a problem believing in your so called satanism.What is your referenece point or a stadard for what is satanic and what is not.Please also learn to differenciate between art and satanism.For lady gaga that is art and that i am certain about.I have lived among artists,done a bit of it myself and have friends doing post doctorate studies in art to know how to differentiate between real art and satanism.The problem we have is we are just too traditional and religious to know the differenciate between a white picture and a blue one,because we just want to stick to what we believe in.No wonder terrorism won`t end because pipo are just too blinded by religion.Fear can kill.
34- Call it art if you will. Art is parading dressed as a high priestess with inverted crosses? Is that why she likes putting a cross on her crouch or that the director of her videos is an open devil worshiper who makes it a point to direct videos wearing t shirts with baphoment’s head(the devil’s head also used accross the churches of satan). It is not superstious or jealousy just stating what is right in front of you.
I am not making comments here based stories I heard or hear say, I have done through research and this is something I have looked into for years. I just find it shocking how everyone seems to miss the not so subtle messages in everything around you. The all seeing eye is channeled at you everywhere yo go, people saluting the devil with devil horns and ok signs
and you all think it is cool and trendy. Celebs wearing skulls and everyone is buying that cus beyonce has one. There are hundreds of subliminal messages around you but you will never see it as your eyes are closed. It is not merely about symbolism though, like I said that is just part of it and I think you are missing that. I could write you a whole report with evidence right in front of your eyes. The world we know is been turned in a one where morals and religion are not acceptable. Gays are marrying in church, s e x education to our children from as young as 5, abortion adverts on tv, free condoms to pre high school kids to encourage underage s e x and discrete abortions to the under age the parents will never find out. The moral fibre is rotten to the core, kids do everything
Ok i will call it art my sister because i know it for what it is (and it is).Believe you me if you were born in a hindu family you will look at what you see around you in a certain way,if again you were born in a muslim family again your picture of the world around you will be different and so is being born in a christian family.The human mind is a complicated machine… it just want to believe in what it want to believe in and no short cuts about it.I like things that could be explained by science and proven and not what my grandmother was taught by a certain another and expect me to do the same no no no.
they see on tv and look what is on tv! All this is part of the plan as if you stand for nothing, you will fall for anything. There is a reason families like the royals and Rockefellers marry within the family- they need the bloodline clean and pure.
Anyway my point was not that the maize is satanic but that the organisation behind this whole so called research is one evil and sinister name. There is a law that is been proposed by a senator Rockerfeller in US giving Obama special powers to pull the plug on the internet ‘in case of an emergency’. Alot of people where left angry and confused about that but only some really understand what that means.
It does not matter if you take it serious or not, but they are taking it VERY serious. Believe what you will, you are entitled to your…
By the way Satanism is practiced freely around western countires, it is not like back home where it is a taboo to even metion. Heavy metal rock fans do not hide the fact they admire their idols who worship the devil and openly do so. Look I am not trying to convince you, you do not believe in good nor evil, your religion is science. Just like you said you are waiting for a scientist to calulate chromosomes etc to come to a conclusion about facts.
Like I said I have been doing a lot of research into occults, freemasons, illuminati and secret societies for years. No one can tell me other wise as I have seen facts for my self, not heard from the village. I have worked and talked with many highly educated people who have both studied and have been members of such socities involved
in the entertainment industry and what they have to say is shocking and scary. I personally do not follow main stream artists, some times it is so obvious to see the change happening and you think people will catch on but it is called art I guess. Keep believing my friend. Science will save you. I know what I know and no one can change my mind about this evil going on. I am not a village chicken filled with superstition stories from the gathering around the fire, no sir! If you too do your research you will be shocked what you will learn.
If there is any topic that is not easy to talk about it is religion.Ask the imam or dalai lama and you will prove my point.Pipo will kill to defend what they believe in.It is no doubt that religion has killed more pipo than any single strain of a virus or tribal war.I rest my case.
It’s important during pregnancy not to get too much of vitamin A, which in high doses can cause birth defects and liver toxicity.
I am not a religious fanatic, I just work with and state facts. It is a free world to believe in what ever you what ever you want, just do not manipulate others to blindly follow a cause that only has you as best interest. Go make videos about praising the devil if you will, just be open to your fans about it instead of doing and spreading evil and hide behind the art curtain. The world is been brain washed to follow a cause they do not understand or even aware of. At least in Hindu or other faiths they are open about what they are spreading.
GMO (Genetically Modified Organism): Does anyone know if that is what happened here or we are just making up things? Is it always the case that in a research of this kind Genetic Engineering has to involved?
I think what makes most people uneasy (and rightfully so) about this area of Science is mainly CROSS-SPICIES gene manipulation. Because “intraspecies” gene manipulation has been going on for quite a long time now, and we have not had a “FRANKENSTEIN” come out of our agric fields yet! Citrus tree grafting is one such example (Orange on Lemon, Lemon on Apple, or Walnut tree on a different type Nut tree, etc.) And this is all done for one advantage or another (high crop yield, pest control, disease control, etc). So let us not scare ourselves before we know all the facts!!
I think you are the one spreading some beliefs here.Atleast for me it is easy to make something in the lab and see the results and i am good at that.Please save us from belief`s in devils if ever they are there(give me proof 4 that).Life is how you make it hence it is easy for pipo like you to hold on to certain beliefs.I dont believe in things that i can`t see no wonder pipo today will rape innocent children and blame it on the devil…. that ain`t supposed to be the case.Bettter to think with the head than believe mysteries,old beliefs,fear,paganism and what ever else comes with religious rheoteric.
Now am using my real user name….
This reminds me of one night when i went for some church overnight prayers back home and a certain guy joined us.This guy told a convincing story us of how he used to drink human blood,go to grave yards for rituals and kill pipo by using magic as part of his satanic rituals before he became a born again christian.It took us about a week to realise that we were actually dealing with a psychiatric case.Now it is nice to belief something that is for sure but what is not good is to try to use one`s religion as a basis to judge others weather what they are up to is right or wrong.
It is very sad, there are a lot of troubled souls in my country.
#1 and 16 (Mo taim). As to whether this is a GMO we can not tell because there isn’t enough information. This product could have been produced by one of 3 ways. a). Conventional breeding; b). “Traditional” genetic engineering; c). Biofortification (a more recent method of genetic engineering). If you go back into the history of conventional plant breeding, you will see that the uncertainties and reservations people had about plant breeding, are very similar to the current worries about GMO’s. It is rather unfortunate that the issue of GMO’s was politicized in Zambia to such an extent that even a person who last stepped into a classroom during their early years of primary education feels they know a lot about GMO’s and their effects on the classroom and the environment.
#38..i will only pray that GOD opens your eyes soon.
GMOs are still very questionable. Biotechnology offers us many new approaches to the problems we face in our world today but what we don’t know are the consequences that will follow our exploitation of this technology. Altering a plant’s genetic makeup will lead to many serious changes in its development and composition; as is clearly shown by the vitamin A fortification. Now the danger is that arises is that following the altering of the genome of the sweet potatoes ku luapula might lead to genetic pool contamination and eventual loss of the natural varieties there. You may wonder why this is such a big concern, let me elaborate: Genes interacting with new genes may produce plants that initiate disease processes such as cancer or even cause new diseases to arise. Cancer is the main…
# 51-There is nothing like opening someones eyes like i said everyone thinks his or her religion is better and looks at other pipo to be lost.It is no doubt that the pope thinks that the dalai lama is a lost soul and so is the imam on a buddist monk.Life is about making individual decision and i have made mine and so have you.But chances are that you never even had time to make your decision about your faith because your were born in a family that believes in a certain deity.Good luck fellow.
# 50 i am convinced that those are GMO because those plants have been modified in such a way that even the future offspring of those plants will contain the same amount of vitamins and it is no secret that all information concerning an organism and the making up of its future offspring is stored or kept in form of genetic information(Replication-Transcription-Translation process) or according to the dogma.
Why use two IDs? Look we can never reach an agreement here. Maybe I can email you some of the factual findings I have and you can go from there. I am not religious fanatic trying to promote or denounce or promote a religion over another. Just stating facts. Just happens that the name in the article is linked to that religion.
At the end of the day it is up to you what you believe. I know what I know from what I have learnt about the same from around the world with highly educated people not mental paitents. This is much bigger than drinking blood bla bla. Your opnions do not make you more inteligent than me or anyone else and vice versa so let us refrain from liking others to dillusioned mental paitents just because you do not agree wit what is been said.
No harm in using two ID`s because after all we all use but just pseudo names here.I bet you got me wrong when i gave that example about the retard ,that was just one of the practical examples i have experienced with people skilled or equiped with good rhetoric to convince innocent souls into believing in an illussion and that has nothing to do with you.About who is intelligent and who is not that is not for me to say or to judge coz i believe everyone has a right to believe in what they think is right or wrong and i can`t take or add anything to what you think is right.I just have a problem when pipo try to push their religion down the throats of others and think that it must be a standard to measure what is evil or holy.Peace be with you.
#55. Ba Dr. youare not telling the whole story here. Remember that GMO’s are subjected to more stringent tests and take much longer for them to be released commercially than conventionally bred lines. When conventional breeding started, the same fears were raised. If you are a scientist, logic will tell you that conventional breeding carries greater risks because you are not targeting specifics. It’s more of a lets hope and see kind of thing. With the genetic engineering that people have moved towards now, it’s no longer about bombarding the plants genome with radioactive energy, but selecting specific genes. In my humble opinion, introducing a WELL RESEARCHED GMO into an area carries as much risk (possibly even less) as introducing an imported non GMO.
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