Works on a multi billion irrigation project co-funded by government and the African Development Bank (ADB) in Manyonyo area of Mazabuka has resumed.
Mazabuka district project Manager, Alex Nonde disclosed this ZANIS in Mazabuka today.
Mr Nonde said a Chinese contractor CHINA JIANGXHI has since been awarded a contract to install irrigation equipment and Water canals covering 200 hectares of land.
He said preliminary works have started and the contractor has since mobilized his equipment.
Mr Nonde the project which will benefit 200 small scale farmers will boost the economical status of the district as more jobs will be created while small scale farmers will grow sugarcane and sell it to Zambia Sugar Company as out growers.
He said the project whose main objective is to reduce poverty among people in villages is being supervised by the Ministry of Agriculture.
Meanwhile, quick intervention by government has ensured adequate availability of mealie meal on the market in Mazabuka, in Southern Province following a recent critical shortage of commodity in the area.
Acting Mazabuka District Commissioner Wilson Siadunka confirmed to ZANIS in Mazabuka today that long queues that had characterised efforts to purchase the commodity in the area are now a thing of the past.
Mr Siadunka explained that the plentiful availability of the mealie meal on the market is a result of government’s directive to the Food Reserve Agency (FRA) to off load part of its stock of maize grain onto the market to meet the demand for the commodity.
He pointed out that the shortage of the mealie meal was compounded by floods experienced in the district.
Mr Siadunka said the floods washed away crops in the area forcing people that would otherwise feed from their crop yields to flock into Mazabuka town for the commodity.
He further noted that the electricity load shedding by ZESCO also contributed to the problem because millers were unable to produce enough mealie meal to meet the demand.
The acting District Commissioner said government should be commended for its timely intervention in addressing the mealie meal shortage.
He said all the four chiefs in the district are happy with the government for ensuring that there is adequate mealie meal on the market to avert hunger in the area.
Mazabuka district is among the districts hardest hit by floods in Southern Province which left a destruction of crops and other public and private property.
Let’s hope these chinese contractors install proper equipment that will last. I don’t trust their products. Why not get the Germans to do the job? It costs more but their products are guaranteed to last.
….and wher do you think the Germans have their stuff made? get real pal!!! China and India are the world’s work-shops. no one makes anything in the 1st world anymore. its all outsourced to these places.
Good way forward. Zambia is blessed with a lot of fertile land and abundant water. To just let this water go to the ocean without being put to good use has been one of our failures. I am glad we are doing something now about it. Let us also plant trees in all regions where deforestation has taken place – Zambia, the Promised Land!
We had a similar project in western province for the rich project in sefula? Minestone zambian limited constructted the canals and yet nothing has come forth. the place is now a breeding grounds for mosquitoes…. i hope this works out.
was supposed to read “rice project in sefula.” oops
Its about quality control Canadian #2.We seem to be poor at it and I wonder whether the Zambia Bureau of Standards knows whats coming into Zed or not.Otherwise how do you explain the poor quality of lots of imported goods ‘branded made in China’. The project is good and more than welcome.Let government popularise the irrigation fund were Zedians at can borrow for investment in agric at reasonable rates.Mob..#4.When was that?
This is positive. I like it I hope almost every province could be provided with such. Mind you to support small scale farming.
As the choncholi materials the matter is for us Zedians to control we can determine what should enter zed guys. Its a matter of quality control and penalties for defaulters (no corruption).
I do agree with # 2. Even the western get the materials from these choncholiz but they mind what enters there countries.
I think pa zed chali opena sana. God help us.
Number 6 you seem to be livng in another world. when i mean China is the worlds work-shop that does not mean everything they make is perfect. hoever, alot of the stuff they make is also top grade. at the end of the day its a matter of jugdment….and ofcourse the money your government is willing to put forward for these projects. China made you guys TAZARA look how wel the lines have served your nation. By siply saying China makes everithing on the cheap, its generalising and very old schoool. if what you are saying is true, no one would be trading with them. wake up my freind. Even the Germans can leave you ‘high and dry’.
i am a canadian and i have lived in Zambia for long time. i feel africans generally tend to think too higly of the western world and the people from it. i personally think tradiing with countries like China and India is more profitable and the way forward than the west. they have offered africa nothing!!! (just an opinion)
I think the lost opportunity here is that first we are not developing the capacity of local firms to undertake such projects that we will certainly need in many other parts of the country, and secondly with the ‘loose’ foreign exchange money controls we have these millions are flying away right now. What is our true gain as a country. Lets not complain about flaky local contractors. There is something regulators can do to ensure that the capacity remains and some of the money too!
#10.Thats’ sense.Canadian #8.Are we to deal with China or the West for the sake of it? I would’nt care as much who we traded with as I would quality.Workshop of the world or not I demand quality and value for money.Let’s look to a future were Zambia will consume Zambian in industry,agricture,etc.Before then Quality.
#1 you are write. But Germans are not corrupt as chinese. So, there will be no brown envelops envolved. Chinese have no democratic or moral principles-they dont care whether the Zambian people are robbed or what.
Mind you China is now colonizing africa. Just take a look at how they are raping DRC (just next door). They are stipping of all their minerals (copper, cobalt, etc) worth a profit of US$40b in xchange for a few new roads, schools, and hospitals. And of course not forget usual african leaders cancer-lining the pockets of DRC politicians. The documentary I watched clearly show whats happening. God bless africa.
People, stop this xenophobia! In business, there is no restriction as to where one can invest his money and do business and no one is stopped from doing so. The west wil not be here anytime soon because the western media’s agenda is to report wars, famine and hopelessness in Africa. To demonstrate that it is possible to do business in Africa, we need countries like China and India because they understand third world environment and know that the west are afraid of nothing. If China doesnt come to Africa, who else is going to demonstrate that sanity can prevail in Africa? You think CNN, BBC will sell by by sudenly pronoucing Africa as heaven on earth and encourage the west to invest here?
Lets us think rationally and accept anyone who can help us develop. I m happy TAZARA has been mentioned, a good quality project longlasting and performing very well. We should press upon our govt to carry out more of such projects across Zambia because it is embarassing for us to suffer draught when the country hold 70% of surface and groud water in SADC! In addition we need agric extension officers too to come and teach us how to practice irrigated agriculture. We also need to grow high value crops for export to make agric a serious business and not an occupation for retirees and iliterates! We maintain fertilizer support, FRS buying produce and extension services, stop subsidizing urbans!