Kawambwa District Commissioner(DC) has implored Zambians to yield President Edgar Lungu’s directive of venturing into farming to eradicate poverty.
Mr. Ivo Mpasa says the PF government has prioritised agriculture as a critical pillar of transforming the country’s economy and improving people’s livelihood through poverty eradication at household level.
He said President Lungu’s call for all Zambians to take farming as an investment to revamp the economy has come at the right time when poverty levels are high in the district and the country as a whole.
ZANIS reports that Mr. Mpasa encouraged the Kawambwa community to get involved into farming to enhance food security at household level so that the vision of poverty free by the year 2030 in the area is achieved.
The DC was speaking during the fourth quarter of the District Development Coordinating Committee meeting in the council chamber.
Meanwhile Mr. Mpasa has invited Vin Energy Solutions to take advantage of the district’s agriculture production potential and market availability to expand its investment opportunities by setting up a milling plant in the district.
He said the district is highly productive in maize in the entire Luapula province of which Vin Energy Solutions can take advantage of to produce mealie meal at a large scale and export the surplus.
Speaking earlier, Vin Energy Solutions General Manager, Nitin Bharambe expressed concern over the high cost of production of mealie meal.
Mr. Bharambe said his company which owns the largest milling plant in the Southern Africa based in Lubumbashi in the Democratic Republic of Congo is in Kawambwa to explore investment opportunities in agriculture.
Poverty in Zambia can only be eradicated if the president can stop abusing tax payer’s money through travel allowances.Why does he keep on running away from his home…
a drunkard will always run away from home because he doesn’t have solutions for the problems
The real drunkard will ask himself a question and then ‘cleverly’ answer it, i.e. apart from stealing a pseudonym from another vitriolic drunkard!
I’m increasingly getting convinced that this guy Lungu has no vision for the country and does not really know what he’s doing. His urging of Zambians to go into farming is hollow and meant as a deviation from his failed leadership. Poverty eradication happens with good leadership who know how to develop a country and grow the economy. Right now there’s no evidence that PF has any technical know-how to do so. Whatever little resources that the country has, Lungu is using that to incessantly fly around aimlessly while the vast majority of the Zambians wallow in abject poverty. His ministers are looting the national coffers as per Lungu’s own announcement. The do nothing MPs just illegally allocated K1.5million to Lungu’s wife to use as she sees fit, to “help” the poor. But everyone…
(Continued)… with half a brain knows that there will be no accountability for that money. If Lungu is serious about farming, his government needs to begin to empower Zambians ( not foreigners) to be commercial farmers. Local Zambian farmers who want to make a difference are constantly frustrated by this corrupt know-nothing leadership, who believe the only way to make things work is to constantly keep looking to foreigners. Sweden and Finland donated some money to ZNFU meant for helping poor Zambian farmers. Someone at ZNFU illegally pocketed it. Finland and Sweden were forced to ask for their money back. While subsistence farming should be encouraged, it shouldn’t, however, be used as a substitute for the government’s responsibility to grow and manage the economy and develop the…
(Continued)… country, which currently there’s no evidence that PF is doing any of that. And this because not every Zambian has access to land, which is a resource currently marred with incredible corruption in it’s allocation.
Give us land.
I want to do agriculture while working but I cannot find land anywhere near Lusaka. All land is locked up with people who don’t even use it. Please subdivide dormant land.
That is the greatest problem we have, LAND. It is not that people do not want to farm. Land is in the hands of a few very rich people who are mostly foreigners. We need radical decisions on land coming from government.
I was one time flabbergasted by a former Minister of Lands (former radio announcer also) who once claimed that Lusaka had run out of land and hence put a stop to applications for it. I was very happy to see the back of him a few years ago!
Streamlined and make easy the process of land acquisition and you will see that every Zambian wants a piece of shamba to settle on and farm…
But don’t stop me exporting my maize if you really mean business. It does not make sense to break my back all season in searing tropical heat only to force me to kongolesha my maize to ever-broke FRA. As it is, my labor is in vain for as long as the politician continues to exploit me for reason of keeping mugaiwa (millie meal) price low and avert food riots. About time the politician stopped using the farmer to perpetuate their stay in power. Stop abusing the farmer for political expediency!
Well many of us want to go into farming. But how easy is it for me to obtain land with title deed for me to start farming??? Stop wasting our time. I have enough money to start with 200 hactares. Even in my own village, village headmen have to give me a run around so I decided, they can go to hell, I will take my children to schools abroad and the rest I will be drinking and having fun. After all its my money right??
Oh really, Now Agric is favourite to PF. ! Very recent, sum pipo were called Kachema. How can you turn round to appear to support what you detest.?
VERY USELESS LEADERSHIP EVER.
As for real Kachemas, make sure you hike prices for all agric products ruthlessly. Let the so called “Smart” cadres cry time.
“Back to the Land” reloaded? It’s a good idea in principle but try to learn from experience at least. Why did it fail with UNIP?
There they go again. ‘going en mass into farming’. What farming other than re emphasising the common tragedy of traditional farming methods? Here farming suffers the mischance of being the most talked about activity but with very little being done to make it improve lives