Sunday, October 6, 2024

Zambia offers Kenyan farmers land to grow Maize in Zambia

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Kenya’s Agriculture Cabinet Secretary (CS) Mithika Linturi revealed a deal between Kenya and Zambia that could see the cost of maize floor in that country drop.

Linturi, who was hosted by Zambian counterpart Reuben Mtolo in Lusaka on Monday, March 6, announced that the two countries would ink a deal allowing Kenyan farmers to grow maize in Zambia.

“I am happy the Zambian government has agreed to offer Kenyan farmers land for large-scale farming in Zambia. Kenyan farmers will in turn be required to export their yields back to Kenya in order to boost our food supply and security,” he stated.

The CS welcomed the commitment from Mtolo, maintaining that the partnership between the Kenyan and Zambian governments would lead to the realisation of food and nutrition security locally.

Linturi further explained that the new memorandum of understanding would lead to the reduction of the cost of maize and its products in the country.

“Based on the projections he shared with us, the farmers will be able to achieve the objective of bringing down the cost of unga because clearly, they got it right and there is something to learn from them.

“We will be able to work out a price at which they will be able to sell maize to the country at of course a much lower price than we are currently getting from the traders,” he reiterated.

Zambian farmers would also benefit from the deal as their government agreed to supply Kenya with their surplus maize in the short term.

Meanwhile, he warned the farmers in the country who caused an artificial shortage in the country by holding onto their produce with the hope of getting better rates.

He advised them to release the maize, stating that once the product from Zambia is harvested, they would be forced to sell it at throw-away prices.

Linturi expressed confidence that the six-month duty-free importation window would see the country meet its local demand for maize.

Currently, a 2-kg packet of maize flour retails between Ksh185-250. During his campaigns, President William Ruto vowed to lower the cost to Ksh70 once he assumed office.

36 COMMENTS

  1. Two African countries cooperating to help sort out a problem in the other. This is progressive. But they need to invest in logistics. How about a reliable railway between Zambia and Kenya? It would be a good project and is likely to be viable.

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    • best ever deal.
      We should not just naming streets like Jomo Kenyata, Cairo, Addis Ababa Road etc. Name farms by those names then.

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  2. As long as they buy inputs locally, employ Zambian labour, pay water rights and other associated export taxes this is fine.

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    • And when are you going to be self-sufficient? This is like a man who is not impotent but goes out to hire someone to produce children on his behalf.

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    • Ba De Javu naimwe use that tiny brain of yours sometimes. There’s more than enough land in Zambia and being self sufficient is a personal choice. You want government to force people into farming if they don’t want to? You would be happier watching all this land in Zambia go to waste instead of letting people who have interest in tilling it come in and employ some chaps? Hopeless critics.

    • Dude Love which is which? When PF gave land to foreigners it was wrong not so when your party sells the whole country. Your president was complaining about land shortage you blamed PF not so with you. Namusobana.

  3. What is wrong with these people…we have the land, we have the money, we have the manpower, we have people willing to farm, but here we are hiring ” foreigners to come and grow food for us on our own land. In Kenya land is a very sensitive issue but here we’re ready to give to the Chinese and other foreigners.

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    • Totally agree. UPND are worse than PF. At least PF made Zambians richer as opposed to making foreigners richer

  4. The other day Mr HH was talking about the PF grabbing traditional land and where will the land to give them Kenyans come from.

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    • @Deja Vu YOU ARE SPOT ON! One wonders where that land will come from because the bigger chunk of the land is under traditional control, there is less state land than traditional! However, I would be less ambivalent against fellow Africans especially Kenyans farming our land than I am towards distant foreigners who are mostly racist against us ; the Labanese, Indians, Chinese and Boers who get huge tracts of land and then insult and ill treat us thereafter!!

    • @Tarino Orange. Well said! Imagine Zambia going to Kenya to ask for land so that we can grow tea or coffee…that’s a total non-starter!!! Empower your own first please!!! How do these UPND chaps think???

  5. This is how conflicts start. Instead of empowering your own people, you go and get someone else to do the work for you? The so called educated people have let Zambia down in a massive way. The scramble for Africa has turned into the scramble for Zambia first.

    • Who told you Zambians are lazy? We’re ready to work but we have so much working against us starting from independence. And the introduction of foreigners will just make our situation worse.

    • In any case I am not sure you what you are talking about. I’m in farming I don’t buy mealie meal I use my own maize which I cultivate. You don’t understand what we go through including poor prices for the commodity but because you have a part to play in the praise singers choir you will decide not to understand.

  6. I can now conclude that Reuben Mtolo has very little grey matter. There’s no hope for Zambian farmers for as long as he remains at that Ministry. Again it speaks to HH’s choices. He’s got a rare talent of picking out useless people

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  7. Kuti waseka ba nu dawn. Do really have to import farmers into the country?
    What has happened to our farmers ? Under Lungu we had bumber harvests which you started exporting until we created a shortage of mealie meal. You again went to the sheds full of maize which Lungu had harvested. If Lungu did it with local farmers …..why are you bringing Masais here ?

    • Desperate situations need desperate solutions? Maybe. But this is complete nonsense. We have certificate, degree, masters and PhD holders in agriculture not forgetting the natural farmers and you go to import…. I am sure the reason is because Kenya has run out of land.

    • I concur with you.
      We never heard the ‘pf left the country with no maize ‘
      Zambia is more than self reliant in that regard
      But why bring foreigners to grow maize,why give a foreigner NAPSA money so that he collect toll fees for 22 years.
      All these things are not making sense
      Where are you taking Zambia?
      Disadvantaging Zambian farmers with this Kenyan thing,may be if they grew wheat , but maize,be serious ba agriculture minister .
      This is a useless idea I have heard so far since I was born

  8. Kenyans like Zambians have enough land to grow as much maize as possible but my problem is with this confused government who cannot reason and think properly , what is that Zambians don’t really have to grow our own food this leadership is strange and disappointing, of course they are our sister country but they don’t have to grow our food.
    The man in state house is a let down does he mean that he cannot provide farming inputs hence he wants to privatize farming everything with is about privatisation.
    Zambians are capable to grow their own food and export to other countries they have done it before he wants to shrink our capacity to feed ourselves .

  9. Hello Zambians

    Do it mean that zambian citizens are not capable to have these farms to produce maize?
    It is very wrong to make such decisions on allowing other countries citizens to have these farms so that the produce maize and sell in their countries. Zambians are capable to farm and produce maize and market these produce to other countries or export. What the government needs to do is to help local farmers with resources such as farming equipment and other help which can be used to run the farms…Establish proper credit lines for farmers which will help them to buy equipment.
    Please play it smart…we have people in zambia who can do these projects if help is rendered to them…

  10. The other day one of Upnd ministers announced that only Zambians will be allowed to transport fuel when the imagined pipe line becomes operational, looking at this I see an influx of East Africans flooding Ndola to transport the imagined fuel.

  11. Whoever bewitched these leaders should feel pity and forgive them. This is the worst idea I have ever heard. Do these guys understand what it means by patriotic citizens? it is the land that we stand to defend first and the rest follows. You want to give foreigners? really laughable.

  12. ““I am happy the Zambian government has agreed to offer Kenyan farmers land for large-scale farming in Zambia. Kenyan farmers will in turn be required to export their yields back to Kenya in order to boost our food supply and security,” he stated.”

    Kenya has more than enough land to farm in Kenya, which is much bigger than Zambia.

    And who are these large scale ‘Kenyan farmers’?

  13. I disagree with this move, better have Zambian farmers to grow the crop and then allow them to export that crop without the frustration of export bans.
    We have seen how Kenyan companies such as Pembe milling who are complete crooks operate, always wanting to buy maize and soya beans at give away prices from farmers. No, they have already given us a taste of how they operate and I say please don’t give them any large Tracy’s of land. Our farmers can do the job bur need encouragement and no restrictions. UPND promised farmers that there would be no export bans, that is one of the reasons we voted for them but today there are trucks being impounded for trying to export maize

  14. What kind of rubbish is this? What about Zambians growing maize and exporting it to Kenya? Can someone please tell me what specific program has been implemented by this government to actually help poor Zambians???

  15. Give incentives to Zambians to grow Maize..
    Why give foreigners land to grow Maize?
    Same applies in mines ,road construction
    And many other ventures.

  16. Brother to brother, Sister to Sister good Samaritan move. One Motherland One Growth. Good move. Been time we started looking out for our own people. Less Westerners, less Chinese………. more of our own.

  17. Kwacha at 20.35, depreciating 7 ngwee every day. At this rate kwcha shall be 30 to a dolla by year end.

  18. Are some Zambian farmers also going to receive land in Kenya? What is the reasoning behind giving land to Kenyan farmers? Could you provide us with a detailed explanation of this decision? Lastly, how will Zambians benefit from this in the long run?”

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