JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Another big C may soon begin to emerge along Zambia’s copper-renowned Copperbelt, this time having nothing to do with the yellow metal but instead highlighting the first letter of a staple food that is also a source of feedstock for biofuel – cassava.

Mining Weekly can report that it is envisaged that the Copperbelt cassava project will serve as the pilot for the eventual widespread upliftment of Zambian agriculture that will provide not only food but also the feedstock for ethanol fuel production under the national ZS 868 and ZS 869 biofuel standards.

Schweizer Agriculture executive director Dr Joas Mukanda Chihangu believes that the Copperbelt’s initial 1 000 ha cassava project will show how the lot of Zambia’s farmers can be uplifted.

For years, farmers in Zambia’s Masaiti, Luanshya, and surrounding districts have, Chihangu says, toiled with hand hoes, poor seed, and little access to finance, resulting in their maize, cassava, and groundnut harvests often barely covering school fees and household needs.

Now, through a partnership between Schweizer Agriculture and Ayoun Energy, it is hoped that significant improvement is on the way.

To transform the agricultural situation, Schweizer Agriculture is equipping cooperatives with climate-smart seed varieties, regenerative soil practices, and irrigation technologies.

Farmers are being trained in financial literacy to link them to credit and new climate-resilient maize hybrids are expected to help to increase yields across the country, with seed multiplication programmes ensuring long-term sustainability.

The plan is for Energy partner Ayoun to establish filling stations that will provide a market for ethanol-blended transport fuel, while the ethanol plant under construction in Luanshya is the project of a third-party investor.

It is envisaged that the Copperbelt’s cassava model will be replicated in Luapula, Northern, Muchinga, Western, and North-Western provinces.