DROUGHT A NATIONAL DISASTER - HH

He said about 84 districts out of 116 districts had been severely affected with by the prolonged drought.

The President said the affected districts were from Lusaka, Central, North-Western, Southern, Western and Copperbelt provinces.

Mr Hichilema said that 2.2 million hectares were cultivated during the 2023/2024 farming season and one million hectares had been damaged.

Mr Hichilema said this drought would be experienced even this month (March) and would be beyond normal.

Mr Hichilema said resources would be mobilised to provide assistance to the affected farmers who had heavily invested in farming but the drought had destroyed their crop.

He also appealed to smallscale farmers to come on board to ensure that more maize was grown by utilising available water bodies across the country.

“Farmers who are near water bodies like dams this is the time to plant now more crops so that the challenge we are facing can be addressed. Farmers need to utilise the dams to produce more food,” President Hichilema said.

He also said resources need to be provided to provide relief food to families in highly affected areas. He said resources needed to be mobilised as soon as possible to save the people.

Mr Hichilema said cooperating partners such as the World Bank, British government, United Nations among others had already extended their willingness to support the government in providing relief to the people.

He also directed the Food Reserve Agency to immediately start selling maize in affected areas.

Meanwhile, President Hichilema said the drought would also affect the energy sector as the country’s energy mix was dependent on hydro power.

He said this means that the government needed to import electricity to ensure the economy continues running and there would be rationing of electricity.

President Hichilema also emphasised on the need to invest in surface and ground water harvest. He said it was cardinal that more resources were channeled to this exercise.

He disclosed that the Israeli government had offered to send a specialised team to help in water harvest exercise.