Government Seeks Support Towards Drought Mitigation

Vice President Mutale Nalumango says close to 10 million people have been adversely affected by the drought that characterized the 2023/2024 farming season.

Mrs Nalumango said the drought has negatively hit the agriculture sector posing a threat on the country’s food security.

Mrs Nalumango said this when International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD) Associate Vice President Corporate Services Department Guoqi Wu paid a courtesy on her.

She stated that the farming community has been severely affected as it largely depends on rainfall fed agriculture production.
Mrs Nalumango said government is looking to its cooperating partners to supplement its efforts in providing relief food.

She added that this is why government is looking for strategic partners such as IFAD to work with in cushioning the citizens from the impact of climate change.

Mr Wu assured the Zambian government of IFAD support in the wake of the drought.
He stressed that IFAD will enhance the relations that it has enjoyed with Zambia in the last four decades.

Meanwhile Mrs Nalumango said like government promised,they are not giving up on the impact of the common enemy, that has befallen Zambia. She reiterated that the UPNd government will face it with an equal amount of resilience and pressure.

As part of mitigating the emergency, Government has contracted the Zambia National Service to construct 11 more dams which will be used for irrigation to mitigate effects of drought on the agriculture production via-a-vis food security.

And Zambia National Service has procured 10 (ten) additional tipper trucks to beef up the earth-moving fleet for its engineering wing at a cost of over 16 million kwacha.

“We are grateful to all our cooperating partners and we shall continue to update you our beautiful people of this Nation about all the efforts your government is making to survive the situation and build up a strong resistance environment,” the Vice President said.