Thursday, March 28, 2024

Zambia to graduate from hand-held hoes type of farming-President Lungu

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President Edgar Lungu on tour   during  Agrictech Expo in Chisamba with  the visiting Czech Republic  agric Minister Mr Marian Jurecja and Minister Given Lubinda at Agrictech Expo in  at GART Research Centre in Chisamba  on Friday- PICTURE BY EDDIE MWANALEZA/STATEHOUSE.
President Edgar Lungu on tour during Agrictech Expo in Chisamba with the visiting Czech Republic agric Minister Mr Marian Jurecja and Minister Given Lubinda at Agrictech Expo in at GART Research Centre in Chisamba on Friday- PICTURE BY EDDIE MWANALEZA/STATEHOUSE.

President Edgar Lungu says the use of hand-held hoes will be a thing of the past in Zambia.

Mr Lungu says this is so because of modern innovations and technologies emerging in the agricultural sector.

He was speaking in Chisamba area when he officiated at the 2016 Third Expo-tech organised by the Zambia National Farmers’ Union (ZNFU) being held at Gart Research.

The four-day expo, which started yesterday, ends tomorrow Saturday and has attracted 35 foreign firms and over 100 local dealers in the agricultural sector who are exhibiting and showcasing their products.

Mr Lungu said the expo is an opportunity for Zambia to do away with traditional methods to modern ways of farming.

He said this way Zambia would become a regional hub of the sub-Saharan Africa of food supply.

The President said government is implementing FISP, irrigation, fisheries and other remedial technologies to realise the regional hub status.

He commended the ZNFU for organising the expo-tech.

And speaking earlier, ZNFU President, Evelyn Nguleka, assured the Head of State of continued support of improving the agricultural sector.

Dr Nguleka said Zambia can become an industrialised country through modern technological innovations.

Meanwhile Agriculture Minister, Given Lubinda, disclosed that Zambia is expected to produce close to 2 million metric tonnes of maize in the 2015-2016 farming season.

Mr Lubinda added that Zambia can become a net exporter of value-added agricultural commodities.

Central Province Minister, Davies Chisopa, disclosed that his region would produce the highest grain in the entire country this year.

Mr Chisopa advised the ZNFU to hold the next expo-tech in Mkushi where there are farming blocks.

President Edgar Lungu at the Agrictech Expo in Chisamba with  the visiting Czech Republic  agric Minister Mr Marian Jurecja and Minister Given Lubinda at Agrictech Expo in  at GART Research Centre in Chisamba  on Friday- PICTURE BY EDDIE MWANALEZA/STATEHOUSE.
President Edgar Lungu at the Agrictech Expo in Chisamba with the visiting Czech Republic agric Minister Mr Marian Jurecja and Minister Given Lubinda at Agrictech Expo in at GART Research Centre in Chisamba on Friday- PICTURE BY EDDIE MWANALEZA/STATEHOUSE.

President Lungu opnes Agrictech Expo in Chisamba 1019

President Edgar Lungu on tour of stands at SEEDCO  Maize Field  during  Agrictech Expo in Chisamba with  the visiting Czech Republic  agric Minister Mr Marian Jurecja and Minister Given Lubinda at Agrictech Expo in  at GART Research Centre in Chisamba  on Friday- PICTURE BY EDDIE MWANALEZA/STATEHOUSE.
President Edgar Lungu on tour of stands at SEEDCO Maize Field during Agrictech Expo in Chisamba with the visiting Czech Republic agric Minister Mr Marian Jurecja and Minister Given Lubinda at Agrictech Expo in at GART Research Centre in Chisamba on Friday- PICTURE BY EDDIE MWANALEZA/STATEHOUSE.
President Edgar Lungu on tour of stands at SEEDCO  Maize Field  during  Agrictech Expo in Chisamba with  the visiting Czech Republic  agric Minister Mr Marian Jurecja and Minister Given Lubinda at Agrictech Expo in  at GART Research Centre in Chisamba  on Friday- PICTURE BY EDDIE MWANALEZA/STATEHOUSE.
President Edgar Lungu on tour of stands at SEEDCO Maize Field during Agrictech Expo in Chisamba with the visiting Czech Republic agric Minister Mr Marian Jurecja and Minister Given Lubinda at Agrictech Expo in at GART Research Centre in Chisamba on Friday- PICTURE BY EDDIE MWANALEZA/STATEHOUSE.

Maize at Chisamba Agrotech EXPO 1263

President Edgar Lungu on tour  during  Agrictech Expo in Chisamba with  the visiting Czech Republic  agric Minister Mr Marian Jurecja and Minister Given Lubinda at Agrictech Expo in  at GART Research Centre in Chisamba  on Friday- PICTURE BY EDDIE MWANALEZA/STATEHOUSE.
President Edgar Lungu on tour during Agrictech Expo in Chisamba with the visiting Czech Republic agric Minister Mr Marian Jurecja and Minister Given Lubinda at Agrictech Expo in at GART Research Centre in Chisamba on Friday- PICTURE BY EDDIE MWANALEZA/STATEHOUSE.

President Edgar Lungu with Mr Kelvin Lesser on John Deere Tractor at Agrictech Expo 0882

25 COMMENTS

    • Our going president Jameson Lungu, How in world are you going to achieve this? No plan or agenda. Keep dreaming. After all you have promised us 500,000 new jobs and we are still waiting

      You are just a figurehead president, no plan, substance, clout or vision. Kuyabebele

      Viva HH

    • Can we for once appreciate good, Chils, when HH loses to either president Lungu, or president Nawakwi in August, please start loving Zambia again.

    • Press on this is a winners’ route. Never get detracted by opponents but continue unwavering with developmental programs. Very few of our fellow commoners thrive on politics. They want development than insults and fists in parliament.

    • 2 MILLION TONS..have you doubters and naysayers heard that 2 MILLION TONS OF MAIZE..Someone go tell HH, ZWD and the entire s.a.t.a.n.I.c group known as UPND that their false predictions of hunger and mealie meal prices remaining high have once again been proven false..what a serious bunch of losers UPND are..the DOLLAR IS THE BEST PERFORMING CURRENCY IN THE WORLD after HH was saying it would reach 100 to a USD what lies and fear mongers they are..rest assured we have been telling you chaps PF is winning come August. With such great performance when other countries are in hunger and economic problems PF has managed!
      2016 ECL nafuti

    • @Nzelu, what good exactly are you talking about?

      Maybe you’re seeing stuff the rest of Zambians queuing up for mealie meal are not seeing

    • Lungu is so careless with his language. How can a President say, ” Use of hand-held hoes will be a thing of the past in Zambia”. Is that possible? Why can`t he state the number of peasant / tradition farmers that government is targeting within a given period.

  1. As a Lady Farm-ress hitting the scene, I am glad I will be joining an enlightened industry. Farming is the new frontier!

  2. This very good. Well stated mr. president. can we on this one article support Zambia. PF and UPND supporters, go fight on another article.

    Viva progress.

  3. 1)Power-load shedding they said it would get worse but the situation is getting better with less loadshedding

    2)Kwacha-ati it will reach 100 to the dollar but it is this Year’s Best Performing Currency according to Bloomberg

    3)Mealie Meal-ati there is hunger and prices will continue to go up. Govt has announced a 2m
    illion Tons of maize is expected this year. Beating previous years of 1.5 million and less. Bumper harvest as predicted by us.
    4)UNZA and CBU expect to be opened soon and you will most likly be given back your BCs..

    PF is working Ba Zambia..we won’t let you down!
    2016 ECL nafuti

  4. 2020 vision, you amuse me, who can tell if we will have that tonnage? Lol what is wrong with your reckoning? Who can predict whether we will have a good rainfall or a drought. Talk is cheap remember, we v heard it all before. Don t know your age but I will tell you something. Never in the history of Zambia has mealie meal our staple food reached the price it is selling at now.

    • Kubweka you are such a dinosaur. You can project harvest using modelling and this is done the world over. As for the price of mealie meal it is supply and demand. You can’t also compare the historical price of mealie meal to what it is today. There is inflation to take into consideration. The price of food has gone up the world over not just in Zambia. Yes it would be nice for the price to go down but it has to be the market dictating not the government. My dad bought his first car forK300 that is only 3 bags of mealie meal today. Be realistic.

  5. Lubinda ati “we will add value to agriculture exports…”

    That is what HH has being saying for the past yrs.
    PF just yapping, there are no kickbacks for them to be had from doing such work.

  6. Just like the measures that needed to be taken like proper desease control and monitoring for Zambia to become a beef exporter, PF ministers found there was no bribes for them to be had by doing the ground work. They abandoned the idea.

  7. Please people dont castigate him, he was drunk thats why he didnt say how this going to be achieved and he is clueless,vision,brainless,useless,hopeless,dullness and a drunkard.

  8. We Seem To Ve Too Many Ignorant Pipo Here Opposing The Gud Intention Of Govt, Ve U Not Seen Govt Donating Tractors To Women Groups?

  9. This in theory workable but would need a work plan from theory to materialisation. In theory it is a very good idea worth looking into. What we need at this stage is contributions on rational arguments on why it is a good idea and rational arguments on why it is a bad idea, weigh its advantages and disadvantages so that if it ever takes off it is based on informed decisions. This space allows us a certain amount of freedom of expression so instead of just trying to show how angry we are, justitfied or not, maybe we could also make the suggestions on what we think should be done on this subject, and how. Furthermore, this is a thing that would also require input from the community. A president cannot do all the jobs involved from planning to loading a bag of maize. Anyway, let us talk…

  10. Besides achieving agricultural technical perfection and magnificent yields, for example, what are the chances that small scale farmers would survive in the ensuing competition, and could there be ways to legislate in terms of protective measures for smaller farmers and their survival alternatives, land allocation considering how much land industrialsed agriculture consumes for maximum yield, especially in an open competitive economy, and considering that a very large part of our national harvest is coming from rural communities. These are not arguments as to why it can or can not work, but points to ponder in our working to see a thing become realised as the first intention.

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