ZAMBIA’S maize production is this year expected go up by between 280,000 and 700,000 tonnes, Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister, Eustarckio Kazonga has said.
Dr Kazonga said preliminary results indicated that the maize output will go up by between 10 and 25 per cent of 2009/10’s production of 2.8 million tonnes.
Apart from the optimum climatic conditions, the minister attributed the 2010/11 production to the increase in the Farmers Input Support Programm (FISP) from 106,000 tonnes to 178,000 tonnes.
The other reason is the enlarged hectarage cultivated by the farmers countrywide coupled with risen number of farmers.
“The rainfall has been very favourable and with yields also expected to rise, maize production should increase by between 10 and 25 per cent,” he said.
Zambia’s maize yields rose about 34 per cent to 2.25 tonnes per hectare in the 2009/10 season and were expected to increase further this season due to enhanced extension services.
“The (number of) small-scale farmers we provided with subsidised seed and fertiliser also increased to almost 900,000 from last year’s 534,000.
“The amount of input allocated under the FISP rose from 106,000 tonnes last season to 178,000 tonnes and that is a great increase,” he said.
Dr Kazonga said the final crop forecast would be announced immediately the experts completed the compilation of the data.
[Times of Zambia]
Great news. Expecting another bumper harvest. At this rate, Zambia will be the new bread basket of Africa. I do however think we should diversify our crops to rice and cassava as well. I feel producing maize year in year out can cause food problems in years of bad harvest.
This is good news. A country that can feed itself is on the way to peaceful development and prosperity. If you dont have to worry about where your next meal is coming from you can use your brain power on other issues to improve your standard of living.
Ba fan club ba nsoka (the fan club of the Snake) Pf please make your usual useless comments. I am sure all you see is failure regardless of the facts staring at you.
Great news.. a nations which can feed itself. Clearly the agriculture policy is working. Am sure a number of people on this blog were not born when we had to eat yellow maize donated from Canada which is used to feed pigs in the Kaunda era.
@No.1, I agree …generally… Let’s however put this into context and consider what Zambia spent on FSIP. If I remember, the stated cost of the 2010/11 programme was something like K600 billion. Therefore, w/o overruns and if we attribute the entire production increase to FSIP, this means Zambia spent something like K2.1 million per ton if the increment was 280,000 tons or K0.8 million per ton if the increment was 700,000 tons before marketing. A quick check of ZAMACE shows maize is now selling in LSK for around K900,000 meaning the FSIP cost Zambia more than market parity except under the most optimistic scenario. Invest in ag and other crops, yes! But must also improve FSIP delivery and keep costs down if this is going to make Zambia into a competitive exporter as you say.
No. 5 i agree with your analysis but we need to understand that Zambia first need to create an agricultural production base before you start managing costs. The creation of the agricultural production base no doubt is going to be costly. Once that is in place we then need to take advantage of incremental margin which come about by volume production by being a regional producer. We have a huge export market DRC, Angola, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, Kenya. We also need to add value to the maize in the form of stockfeed once we have satisfied human consumption needs. Advanced training both technical and marketing need to take place.
Good news, and I guess this news is bad for our friends from kulima tower/matero school of business.RB nafuti nafuti.