Government intends to buy a record one million tonnes of maize and 2,000 tonnes of paddy rice through the Food Reserve Agency this year and no doubt our farmers, especially peasant and small-scale, must be smiling all the way to the bank.
With the price jacked up to K85.00 per 50 kg bag of maize and K60.00 per 40 kg of rice, Zambian farmers can look forward to one of the most successful and profitable buying seasons in a long time.
According to FRA board chairperson Joe Simachela, the buying season started on July 12 and all is set for one of the biggest operations to buy and haul maize from the remotest satellite depots in the country and move it to safety before the onset of the rains. So far 1,223 satellite depots are ready to receive the grain and 6,115 seasonal staff have already been recruited to man these depots.
When we recall that as of now only a few districts in the country have not yet received Compound D fertilizer as part of the Farmer Input Support Programme (FISP) for the 2016/17 farming season, one can agree that the Government means business when it says it wants to make agriculture the second biggest employer and cash spinner to mining.
We have the fertile soils, all the farming land we need, the right climate and a pro-poor Government to do the right thing.
Zambia this last season achieved yet another record harvest in the face of one of the harshest weather conditions characterised by the El Nino syndrome; but with careful planning and resilient policies we still managed to harvest enough maize to become not only the envy of our neighbours but the food basket of the region.
It means it is now up to every able-bodied Zambian to grab this rare opportunity where nearly all the countries surrounding Zambia have a food deficit and look to us to supply them with food. We have the fertile soils, all the farming land we need, the right climate and a pro-poor Government to do the right thing.
When President Michael Sata said he was going to put money in people’s pockets, he did not mean the Kwacha would fall from heaven like manna into our pockets. He meant that the Patriotic Front government would provide a conducive environment – like the early distribution of farming inputs – to enable everyone rise from the rocking chair of poverty and idleness and do something for themselves to earn a living.
President Sata’s vision was for every Zambian to be afforded the opportunity to work on the land to grow enough to ensure family food security and sell the surplus. Every woman, youth and disabled person would be involved. In tilling the land there is no vulnerability.
The Government’s responsibility is to ensure the inputs are delivered on time and at the doorstep of the farmer. The surplus maize is bought from a depot not far from the village; the farmer is paid promptly and at the right price. This is what they call empowerment – a matrix of solutions to enable one achieve the goal of eliminating poverty from their home and community.
This is just but one of a package of measures the Government is undertaking to fulfil the promises they made in 2011. The massive road network which enables the fertilizer supplier and the Food Reserve Agency to reach and pay the farmer in the remotest part of Zambia is one of them.
Zambia may not need to launch a back-to-the-land crusade to depopulate our teeming towns, cities and peri-urban areas but it is clear that the Government has provided the right mix of policies, strategies, programmes and projects to enable every able-bodied Zambian to use their heads, hands and talents to earn a living. Farming is one of them.
This is what President Sata called putting money in YOUR pocket.
Daily Nation
Cheap outdated politics of poverty, taking advantage of poverty among Zambians to gain votes. Lies lies lies…bufi. Actually, its no money in the pockets
Lungu is completely dull. This dumb bag doesn’t realise that weather it FDD, UPND or that Chamba party that forms government they will buy maize. Its government. What about him and PF what is your manifesto. This is the most foo1ish president we have had. What is your plan dude????
THE DAY OF RECKONING IS FINALLY HERE! LET US ALL JOIN HANDS AND TAKE OUT THIS CADRE CONTROLLED GOVERNMENT. ALL THIS MONEY THEY ARE TALKING ABOUT ALL ENDS UP IN CADRE HANDS. WE NEED A GOVERNMENT WITH CLEAR POLICIES AND SOUND PLANNING. THE DAYS ARE GOING BY QUICKLY AND IN A FEW WEEKS PF AND LUNGU SHOULD BE SENT OUT. THEY HAVE DONE ENOUGH DAMAGE. WE NEED A FRESH START!!!!!
VIVA HH 2016
Party ya fimashilu ifiwelewele. I’m glad jumped this sinking ship.
If last year was a bumper harvest why are people hungry with no jobs ?? Where have you taken the bumper harvest money ?
If the weather suffered from the EL nino syndrome; then the economy suffered from EL Chagwa syndrome.
Give credit were its due bamushebwa imwe!
“Money in your pockets”,”Dununa Reverse”.This Jameson liquor must be potent stuff
Kumuntu takwaba chisuma–
Us the farmers are very happy with President Lungu and PF and will vote for the massively because they mean business.
We don’t want UPND and HH who have been saying that our hard work and sweat of farming g could have been pegged at K50 per 50kg bag!
Now everyone including the miners on Copperbelt have realised that despite the challenges that we may have gone through, President Lungu is ver determined to resolve them practically and he has proved it so our vote is on EDGAR CHAGWA LUNGU AND PF.
The cartel HH and PF rejects will not fish from our ponds, because it’s clear they are just crooks.
operation watermelon…. PF pwahahahaha !!! umuntu ni lungu
no money in the pocket, shame bwana president please leave zambia in piece you are a failure, selfish and evil
@ Ndonga
Go ask for money from you father and see if he will give you. Jealous iyi mwakwata will kill you! You chaps need to exposure by travelling round the world and you will thank God you live in Zambia. There is nothing for free out there, do you know why the Western world is called capitalist nations?
You lazy around, do nothing and expect manner from nowhere, you d1e. So, get your acts together because no one including you own sisters or brothers will feed you you need to be there. Probably you are one of those chaps who used to laugh at your friends when they were busy going to school and studying but now TIME has caught up with you and you want to blame President Lungu.
efintu!!!!!!
viva pf dununa revers nafuchi nafuchi
Operation Water Melon
Operation water mellon!!!
viva lungu.
Cat Power,!!! If you are young, You are very stupid *****!!!, but if you are older than the President, sorry!!! think before you write insults… How do you insult your parent let alone a president!!! imagine it was your father!!! Be respectful… The bible says respect elders or your parents so that your days are increased… That’s is why mwakulapena!!!
#P Kazhila, Operation Watermelon……green outside but red inside….my relatives in Mfuwe have been getting a lot of green regalia but being farmers, they really want a president who is a practical farmer, they remembered the transformation that ba Levy made (he had a productive farm in Ndola rural). We also want to learn more about effective animal husbandry that our tonga colleagues have mastered for years. We are moving forward with the rest of the country this time:-)