Tuesday, March 19, 2024

I have my job cut out for me as Agriculture Minister-Dora Siliya

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Dora Siliya cuts the ribbbon to launch the Cashewnuts project
Dora Siliya cuts the ribbbon to launch the Cashewnuts project

Agriculture Minister Dora Siliya says she has been thinking about how to actualize Presidents Edgar Lungu’s vision, to turn Zambia into a green revolution since her appointment as Agriculture Minister.

Ms Siliya said she recently called for a consultative forum to identify practical ways to increase productivity and production.

She said stakeholders listed lack of financing, irrigation, energy, mechanisation, ownership and soil/fertiliser/crop specific research as the main hindrances.
“Let me say I have my job cut out for me,” Ms Siliya said.

She said in response, she travelled to Mongu last Saturday to launch the Cashewnuts infrastructure development project with an investment of 55.4 million dollars.

Ms Siliya says the project aims to work with 600 thousand households in 10 districts to plant 6 million improved varied cashewnut seedlings.

She said the project targets 300,000 women and 100 thousand youths out of all targeted Farmers.

“You may wish to note that currently cashewnut is at $6000/Ton while Copper is at $4000/Ton. It’s time to look at the glass as half full not half empty in relation to agriculture in Western Province,” Ms Siliya said.

“His Royal Highness the Litunga through the Kuta has committed to releasing Land for 100 trees per hectare per farmer. This Cashewnut crop is planned towards exports especially to the Middle East.”
She added, “I thank our Partner the ADB who are financing with GRZ and providing management support. My call is to our experts to ensure these resources trickle down to core activities and not ineligible workshops and trips.”

Dora Siliya
Dora Siliya

19 COMMENTS

  1. To much bwe bwe we want to see action. Don’t just drink with Vodka Chigayo Lungu and Bwezani Banda in Lusaka. Work!!!
    You stole votes and you think we will remain quiet?

  2. Once it starts, can we be shown the poor people that will benefit from this project. Can we see them on their 100 hectare farms working for their money please. That is what practical means, poor people actually benefitting.

  3. 1mbeciles above are still mourning their election lose. No one cares that you lost. You can all hung on one rope and die you cunts. Be assured that even in 2021 your serial loser will lose. Losing elections now is branded as votes being stolen.

  4. Well and good for the long term but what are the interventions in the short and medium terms for people need to live now and not suffer work for generations yet to come

  5. Great idea. Just one question, who and where is going to process cashew-nuts before exporting them at USD 6,000 per ton?
    Cart in front of horse as usual?

    • when raw materials are available, it’s easier to process. But she’s talking about export-quality cashew-apples and nuts, plucked, packed, and exported. Very little processing required.
      With processing, margin and pricing increases.

  6. I commented on another post, that seems relevant here.

    hemp paper would be made from cannabis ruderalis (russian plant), which has no psycho-actives. Our own sativas can also be bred to increase fibre/oil content with decreases in THC.

    This is an easy way to phase in cannabis production, as it wouldn’t invite the stigma of people getting high (although, getting people high is easily the biggest business in Zambia through alcohol, lodges, and tobacco).

    As a complement to article, this could easily be a boon to zambia’s economy through pure agriculture and realizable value-adds like paper/plastic/textile/bio-oils manufacture/processing. Let’s not forget that copper = $4K/MT, export quality psychoactive flower or concentrates can easily go from $5K-$50K/MT as export.
    That’s…

    • (Contd.) That’s minimum more than copper (unprocessed) and upto 10 times the value with processing, and anywhere from 1-2 times the value of Cashew unprocessed

      I should also say that one of our landraces – “Malawi Gold” – is one of the most sought after strains in the world, but is in practically non-existent supply. We could easily corner that market.
      More people would get into agricultural education because money and free weed. Win-Win-Win-Win.

      A state called Oregon, with a population of lusaka + livingstone gains $50Million dollars per year in taxes just off sales of recreational use, not industrial use.

      What could possibly be the cause of the opprobrium? (inB4 illiteracy)

    • apologies, my maths were off by a factor of 1000. that’s $5M/MT, or 1000 times the value of copper, renewable, easily decentralized, value add IN zambia.

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