1. Conservation Farming

Since 1996, a growing coalition of stakeholders from the private sector, government and donor communities has promoted a new package of agronomic practices for smallholders in Zambia. PAM has been in the forefront, spearheading the promotion of Conservation Farming in Zambia.

Conservation Farming System

The conservation farming (CF) system PAM advocates involves:

• Dry-season land preparation using minimum tillage methods (either ox-drawn rip lines or hand-hoe basins)
• No burning of crop residue from previous harvest but rather retention
• Planting and input application in fixed planting stations
• Nitrogen-fixing crop rotations

Benefits of Conservation Farming

The conservation Farming system enables farmers to plant with the first rains when seeds will benefit from the initial nitrogen flush in the soil. By breaking pre-existing plow-pan barriers, the CF basins and rip lines improve water infiltration, water retention, and plant root development.

2. Improved Nutrition Statuses

Nutrition encompasses the processes of accessing food, consumption, and utilization of nutrients by the body. Whereas nutritional Status is the condition of the body resulting from the utilization of essential nutrients available to the body. PAM has worked with different communities in promoting high levels of nutrition.

Promoting Nutrition

This includes:

• Knowledge transfer
• Promoting Spirulina production
• Promoting production and consumption of nutritious foods
• Promoting all year production of vegetables by giving treadle pumps to groups

3. Food Processing

Food processing, any of a variety of operations by which raw foodstuffs are made suitable for consumption, cooking, or storage. PAM has played a big role in training individuals and groups on how to process food without washing out the nutrients.

4. Food Preservation

Food preservation may be defined as the process of treating and handling food in such a way as to stop, control, or greatly slow down spoilage and, of course, to minimize the possibility of foodborne illness while maintaining the optimum nutritional value, texture, and flavor.

Promoting Food Preservation

In the quest to improve Nutritional Statuses for its beneficiaries, PAM has promoted the idea of food preservation as a way to enable beneficiaries to have access to nutrients available in seasoned crops. Food preservation includes every action taken to maintain food quality for the longest possible time and ensure that pathogenic microorganisms are not present.