Distribute farming inputs early - Lungu
By NATION REPORTER PRESIDENT Edgar Lungu has directed the Ministry of Agriculture to ensure that farming inputs for the 2018/2019 farming season are distributed early.
The President emphasised the need for farmers to plant their crops on time to ensure high productivity.
Minister of Agriculture, Michael Katambo disclosed this at celebrations of the Farmers Day in Lusaka where several stakeholders in the sector called on the government to give farmers inputs early.
The minister urged farmers to buy the bulk of the needed inputs early as Government was only supplementing their efforts.
He assured the farmers that Government would formulate appropriate policies and programmes for farmer development and increased crop production.
“There is need for a change of mindset among our farmers, you need to take advantage of the incentives and programmes Government is implementing. And also be in competition so that productivity is increased,” he said.
And Minister of Fisheries and Livestock Kampamba Mulenga said at the same event that her ministry would incubate about 200 aquaculture entrepreneurs yearly for the next five years and these would be linked to the aquaculture fund after completion.
Ms Mulenga said that training of fish farmers was ongoing at the National Aquaculture Research Development Centre in Kitwe.
She disclosed that milk production in Zambia had also increased from 188 million litres per annum in the 1990s to the current 618 million litres.
Ms Mulenga announced that the livestock sector was worth over US$1.5 billion and accounted for 35 percent of agriculture share of the nation gross domestic product (GDP).
“Beef and dairy products are growing at seven percent and 10 percent annually respectively. Poultry has also doubled in size over the last 10 years,” she said.
Ms Mulenga said that increased buying power by citizenry had also increased meat consumption.
Meanwhile, Small Scale Farmers Union president, Frank Kayula called on Government to surprise farmers by distributing inputs early this coming farming season. Mr Kayula emphasised the need for farmers to plan and plant their crops on time in the 2018/2019 farming season to ensure high productivity.
He explained that once productivity was high at a reasonable production cost, farmers would not complain about the maize buying price government had been offering.
Mr Kayula also advised farmers to aim at increasing production of whatever produce they would be engaged in.
He also urged farmers to embrace the call for value addition for their produce.