Paying farmers, a priority for national and economic development

Dear Editor,

THE agriculture sector is one of the key sectors in Zambia that is important for national development and the key players in the sector are our farmers among our players.

In the recent past I have followed with keen interest the countless demands and requests for farmers to be paid their moneys by the government and a number of reasons have been advanced why they have not been fully paid up to now.

My views are that farmers are important stakeholders in the national economy of Zambia and their plight is of national importance and it is paramount that the government should look at their plight with urgent attention, this is because it is the same farmers that produce the maize which is then processed to mealie meal which is the staple food for Zambia and in the year 2019 the country had a lot of lessons to learn concerning the prices of mealie meal. It will be myopic for the government not to have learnt lessons concerning the agriculture sector in the 2019.

2020 is still a bright and fresh year and it requires that the government goes to back drawing board and see what didn’t work well in 2019 and reformulate better strategies in 2020 and not paying farmers on time is not a good way to start the year.

In as much as infrastructure development is key to the Zambian people and it is also important for international and regional strength of our country. Agriculture is a top priority as it borders on the daily livelihoods of the people, there is no human being that can survive without food but human beings can survive without other services such as infrastructure. My humble call to the government of the Republic of Zambia is that lets put the right priorities in place for economic development and also to ensure food security in Zambia in the year 2020.