Adapting to a changing climate: indigenous biotic rainfall forecasting in Western Zambia.

Forecasting rainfall at the local scale to inform farm-level decisions is complex and it remains an unresolved problem with dire implications for food security. Here, we examine indigenous knowledge forecasting systems used by smallholder farmers in Maondo Agriculture Camp (MAC) of Sesheke District in the Western Province of Zambia to increase their climate change adaptive capacity at the farm level. We adopted a qualitative approach that uses an exploratory-descriptive design.

An unusually long Rift valley fever inter-epizootic period in Zambia: Evidence for enzootic virus circulation and risk for disease outbreak.

Rift valley fever (RVF) is a mosquito-borne disease of animals and humans. Although RVF outbreaks are usually reported at 5-15-year intervals in sub-Saharan Africa, Zambia has experienced an unusually long inter-epizootic/-epidemic period of more than three decades. However, serological evidence of RVF virus (RVFV) infection in domestic ruminants during this period underscores the need for comprehensive investigation of the mechanisms of virus perpetuation and disease emergence.