Zambia is food secure, says Mweetwa

MINISTER of Information and Media Cornelius Mweetwa has assured that the country is food secure and appealed to citizens to avoid panic buying of maize as the government will make available affordable grain through the Food Reserve Agency (FRA).

Mr Mweetwa, who is on a fact-finding mission to ascertain the extent of drought and also check on the maize stock at FRA sheds in Southern Province, said there is enough stock available to cover the drought period through to the next farming season.

He said the province has more than 47, 000 metric tons of maize.

Mr Mweetwa, who is also government Chief Spokesperson said this after touring the FRA shed in Kalomo yesterday.

“The stock is sufficient as it will see us to the next season coupled with other measures that the government has put in place to ensure no one goes hungry in the country,” he explained.

He said citizens should therefore not go into panic buying of maize because the government will make available affordable maize for people to buy.

“I appeal to the FRA to ensure it safeguards the harvest jealously. We cannot afford to have a wastage like it was last year in Livingstone. It is from the stocks that we have that the government would want to build up on,” Mr Mweetwa said.

He urged the district administration to start sensitising the people on what the declaration of the drought as a national disaster means so that they fully understand and prepare.

He also advised councils to re-align their 2024 budgets and direct more resources to sinking of boreholes in communities to avert a possible water scarcity due to the prevailing drought in most parts of the country.

Mr Mweetwa said there is a likelihood of water scarcity in most communities for both humans and animals and councils must direct funds from some projects towards the provision of water.

“As a way of sustaining the situation there is a need at community level for farmers to respond to drought through irrigation. Government will reinvert our actions and put in place adaptation measures,” he said.

And the Southern Province Agriculture Coordinator Max Choombe said 61, 000 hectares of crop fields have been affected in the province, with 282 small-scale farmers in Namwala and Sinazongwe being the worst hit.

“We have a crisis. We expected a super harvest but it’s a cry everywhere there is nothing to harvest as the crop suffered at the time of tasseling and all the pollen is gone,” Dr Choombe said.