The vice president says the country will harvest less than last year’s crop yield due to floods and excessive rains which washed away large tracts of cultivated land.
Rupiah Banda says the recent crop focus indicates that there will be need to move food from surplus areas to deficit areas in order to mitigate the effects of the low crop yield.
Mr Banda said this when he received cash and material donations from two companies aimed at mitigating the impact of this year’s floods among the affected people.
The companies are Mcquin and Philips who donated Gorji’s Protemin instant meal valued at K175 million and Copperbelt Energy Corporation (CEC) who donated a cheque worth K20 million.
The vice president expressed happiness that companies have continued to donate generously towards alleviating the plight of flood victims around the country.
Mr Banda commended the two companies for their generosity and social responsibility towards the flood victims.
He said government is working on a master strategy that will allow all donors to have a say in disaster management in a bid to ensure effective response, management and mitigation.
Speaking earlier at the same function, CEC Managing Director Neil Croucher said his company decided to offer a helping hand because the destruction and misery of the flooding has placed an extra cost on government as it strives to feed, clothe and resettle the victims.
Croucher said CEC will remain alert and sensitive to disasters and will contribute when need arises to alleviate the suffering of the citizens.
And Mcquinn and Phillips Zambia Limited Managing Director Henry Gorji said the donation of Gorji’s protemin instant meal to the flood victims arose out of the need for good nutrition for citizens to enjoy good health.
He said his company will continue to be of service to Zambians in the provision of nutrition to fight malnutrition in the country.
Meanwhile, Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit (DMMU) National Coordinator Dominiciano Mulenga has disclosed that government will this month carry out an in-depth assessment in 34 flood prone districts of the country.
In an interview with ZANIS, Mr. Mulenga said the report of the assessment will aid the rehabilitation and reconstruction programme scheduled to start in July this year to March next year.
Mr. Mulenga said DMMU will also continue to update and upgrade the contingency plan in disaster management and mitigation as a way of continued preparedness for disasters.
He also said the flood victims are in a transition period as some of them are moving back to their usual areas of residence while those in Kazungula and Mazabuka in Southern province, will soon relocate to higher grounds.
Mr Mulenga said DMMU is working with the ministries of energy and water development, education and health to ensure that basic services are provided in the areas of settlements while DMMU continues to provide relief supplies for the affectec people.
Heavy rains will always translate to flooding and to washing away vast tracks of land all this because of deforestation for charcoal. Kapwepwe tried to fight against charcoal burning and deforestration. But the subsequent ministers and the current leadership is full of ignorant people that they cannot connect the critical dots so that they develop proper policies on energy and agriculture. Shame on you imposters, whose main task is to enslave Zambians!
ah ah what is RB saying now? Do we still have a surplus that is the question?
Then you guys should stop exporting maize asap!we need alot of grain this year as you know that its our staple food.we know what the floods have done.too bad for our fellow brothers and sisters in the rural areas.
LT please, it is crop ‘forecast’, not ‘focus’. Being Zambia, I also assume the ‘crop’ being talked about is just maize. #2, I think the surplus was from the last agricultural season.
Clean up FRA.
There may be a surplus in the commercial sector of the food market. But there are thousands of Zambians who are out of this loop. These are Zambians who are at the subsistence level. They grow their own food and if there is a crop failure like last season they are condemned to starvation since they have neither the means to buy readily available in our shops.
#6 correction : readily available food in the shops.
And yet you will soon hear that GRZ is exporting maize to China!
I’ll come to your rescue Zambia, don’t worry
1. Exploited Zambian,
– ” Heavy rains will always translate to flooding and to washing away vast tracks of land all this because of deforestation for charcoal. ”
I partially agree with what you’re saying. However, a lot more can be done. Dams can be built across seasonal rivers to catch runoff water. And swales can be dug, to redirect water below the survace to replenish aquifers or even to feed ponds, making water available to agriculture throughout the year and making multiple harvests per year possible. Right now, 97% of agriculture is dependant on rainfall.
So putting the proper hydrological infrastructure in place can prevent flooding, end food insecurity and provide jobs.