Minister of Agriculture and Livestock Wylbur Simuusa says government has made significant progress regarding the re-organisation of the livestock sector in the country.
Mr. Simuusa said this is because government is actively involving stakeholders in the sector in developing policy and programmes.
He said this in a speech read for him by his deputy Luxon Kazabu this in Lusaka today during the commemoration of World Egg day under the theme “crack an egg and help to crack hunger.”
He said government has also been consistent in the interaction and exchange of ideas with the Zambia National Farmers Union and its affiliated associations.
Mr. Simuusa pointed out that government was aware of the concerns of the farmers’ livestock levies and fees being charged by local authorities.
He said government was also working on the ban of backyard poultry rearing especially in Lusaka.
Mr. Simuusa explained that the achievement of the Poultry Association of Zambia’s (PAZ) vision of doubling the size of the industry by 2019 will greatly contribute to the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
He said government attaches great importance to the capacity building of the farmers particularly the small scale farmers in the country.
Speaking earlier, PAZ chairman Rodney Sisala said the growth of the layers subsector in Zambia has been tremendous over the years.
Mr. Sisala said pullet chicks production has increased from K2 million in 2012 to K2.9 million in 2013, representing 45 percent increase.
He said the per capita consumption of eggs by an average Zambian is about 58 eggs per annum
Bwana minister; if you stop people from rearing poultry in their back yards, how will they survive? Many have resorted to this to feed themselves and families plus educate their children, do a little research before you come up with things like this. WHERE ARE THE JOBS FOR THESE PEOPLE TO SURVIVE?
Point. And that is where they raise the money to pay for their children’s university fees. Why not encourage pipo to be entrepreneurs. Rome was not built in 1 day bwana minister
They want to ban for public health reasons, my dears. When bird flu sweeps through your towns and your already overloaded hospitals get loaded even more (your own small ebola), you are the same smart ones who will be saying prevention is better than cure…these guys have no clue how to plan…etc etc. Mwebantu mwalishupa! Entrepreneurship, yes, but safe entrepreneurship. In the 1800s Londoners could even keep pigs in their homes. Waves of cholera and similar diseases taught them that, if you want public health, their are some seeming economic rights you must deny that public. For their own good.
Here comes more money in the pockets of the backyard farmers. Bwana minister your plans are not attainable due to the high levels of poverty in the country.
I cannot not believe a minister of a poor country like Zambia can talk about banning backyard poultry keeping. Shows how far leadership can be detached from reality.
Ba Simuusa,
First of all 58 eggs per annum is way too low. That’s probably how many eggs I consume per month.Yet you want to stop people from helping increase the production numbers. How do you think your relatives from Choma will survive if they cannot raise chicken from their yards? How do you think Choma/Njase Secondary or Choma Hospital will survive? How do you expect Kozo lodge (where you like to stop by when you are in town) and other lodges will survive? Where do you expect the tithe will come from if members of your brother’s church in Choma stop raising chickens? Honestly, Wilbur have you really thought through this? Or you were trying to appease your new bemba relatives in PF who have no clue about how a chicken is raised or where an egg comes from? Kumulya ka muyeeya basa!
NA ulye nema nenkoko waikala pachipuna with a hefty salary and allowances then you bark lekeni ukuteka ifitekwa pa mayanda weshilluwe ukatulisha
@choma maano, taukwete maano. How do the bembas come? Your tribal wirering is amazing! Chipuba chenu mudala, deal with it. And whats so tonga about rearing chickens. Maybe he should go ahead with the barn that should feed your bemba ire
Hon. Simuusa……….
You are one of the Ministers I admired but now you are disappointing me.
So rearing chickens in the backyard is a health hazard BUT street vending is OK? Unlicensed “taxis” are OK but having a few chickens to lay the much needed eggs for the children’s breakfast is a health hazard? Well, you are right, but there are too many contradictinf statements from the government.
It is also OK for you for nurses to start hospital backyard gardens for food production. Desperation!!!!
Wait, till you are not a Minister. Then you will see things differently.
Is it not a shame that you are now bowing to pressure from the big poultry growers who want to have a captive market for chickens and eggs?
Agree that the so-called Poultry Assocaition want to create a captive market from which to extort usury profits. Agree that backyard poultry rearing is a coping strategy for the thousands that were made redundant by SAPs or the unemployed until the economy adjusts to absorb more into formal employment. Backyard poultry raising is in the same category as salaula marketing, street vending, begging, prostitution, even stealing from government (alias corruption)!
There are as many health hazards associated with backyard chicken rearing as with street vending, salaula, prostitution, corruption, etc!!!!
I don’t think there was a reason given for this ban on rearing chickens in the back yard of your property. Someone has suggested medical reasons, but really that is not a very good reason. Bird Flu happens frequently in China, Hong Kong, because people practically live with the birds in the house! Also the markets are full of live stock, near other products making cross contamination very possible.
What the gov’t really wants to be doing, is teaching and assisting citizens on good rearing practices, which most Zambians already know. Houses or properties tend to be far apart and with marked off yards in Lusaka. Believe they should instead give licenses to people rearing chickens in yards, with inspections by Environmental Health. Anyway, for home owners, how can you stop them?
Just to add, that there are legal difficulties in banning chicken rearing on private property. On council property, yes as that belongs to the state unless purchased. However, I don’t see how it can be done on private land, gov’t telling people what they can do on their land is therefore ridiculous.
I think this is just a way of closing the market off to ordinary citizens, so as to force them to purchase eggs from farmers. On our farm in Lusaka, mother used to produce lots of eggs and we practically had to give them away since chickens when given correct feed will repay you magnificently. That creates competition on the market. Supply and demand affects market price with too much produce flooding the markets. But the gov’t should not be oppressive with such edicts.
Once the big poultry farmers start to influence government decisions it becomes a sad day for Zambia. In the USA it is called lobbying. We shall end up having a government beholden to corporate interests where no matter whether Obama tries to introduce the Affordable Health Care Act the health insurance companies feel threatened and sponsor politicians to try to kill an Act which is helping millions of people. In 1969 in Chikankata my father had 12 layers in our garden and as a child that is how I got to know the meaning of the word dozen. We were just trying to keep up with the tradition where KK promised one egg per day to every Zambian! It is a shame that we have such politicians and this coming from Wilbur himself makes me very sad because being a graduate I expect better from him
First ban street vending before you go to people’s backyards
” He said government was also working on the ban of backyard poultry rearing especially in Lusaka.
” Mr. Simuusa explained that the achievement of the Poultry Association of Zambia’s (PAZ) vision of doubling the size of the industry by 2019 will greatly contribute to the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) ”
Translation: people rearing their own chickens is COMPETITION to the large corporations.
The last time Minister Simuusa was in the news, he was shilling for a second billion dollar Eurobond, because ‘we need something for agriculture’.
Ba Simuusa, am so disappointed with you, first you messed up the Timber Business in Zambia leaving thousands of people who depended on it for income suffering now you want to mess up with Poultry Producers in Zambia? just what is your problem? sometimes you dont need people to tell you the wrongs you are committing but you should look at your rear view morror and see the dust you have left behind as you over spped to please your ailing appointing authority. You can only a blessing or a curse to the nation depending on what you are doing! so where are you?
Shame on you, where will people get money to pay for those deserving students you denied bursaries? where will money for other household nedds come from? it is better to shut that foul mouth of yours than making shallow utterances.
zambia to the dogs,what type of government is this next you will tell how to shinda nokunya ba swine imwe
instead of concentrating on paying farmers who supplied the maize produce to fra, you are buying thinking of how you will fix the poor jobless parents. i wonder if this is really a pro-poor government
You ban at your own peril. Ban us and we vote you out. We have not seen any health challenges posed by backyard rearing of chickens and we have been doing this for years. If rearing chickens is dangerous at the backyard, then it’s equally dangerous at the farms. This is s matter of life and death for a lot of people in Zambia. You can’t just ban without giving people alternative, equally convinient and affordable option of raising same amounts of money they earn from chicken rearing.
Why a Tonga can not be President. Compare Miles Sampas utterance and this one . Totally opposite. Mweba Tonga just chill your children may start thinking straight not the present crop.
I used to think it’s illegal to have poultry in your backyard and it’s only a matter of implementation of the existing legislation. ..