Zambia is expected to record a decline in its maize output under the 2007/2008 Agricultural season.
The Crop Forecasting survey indicates that the output for the staple food crop will go down to about 1 point 2 million metric tonnes.
The decline is lower than the 1 point 4 million metric tonnes maize output recorded during the 2006/2007 Agricultural season.
The output for Soya beans, wheat, tobacco,sorghum and other crops is also expected to decline.
This is according to a Central Statistical Office monthly bulletin for December, 2008.
Government recently allowed the Food Reserve Agency to import maize to beef up existing grains in strategic reserves.
And thirty three agricultural co-operatives in Monze district have not received inputs under the Fertilizer Support Programme -FSP-.
Bweengwa Member of Parliament Highvie Hamududu says the 33 co-operatives comprise over 1-thousand farmers.
Mr. Hamududu says the affected peasant farmers are now in a state of panic.
He urged the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives to quickly intervene and ensure that the inputs are delivered to the intended beneficiaries.
Meanwhile, Agriculture Minister Brian Chituwo has instructed the Southern Province Agricultural Coordinator to immediately investigate the matter.
Dr. Chituwo regretted that the peasant farmers’ concerns have been brought to his attention towards the close of the Fertiliser Support Programme distribution exercise which ends on January 15.
[ZNBC]
We know that
**==Year in year out same story
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yes coz GRZ is supporting farmers to the expectations!!
Yesterday, Chipata council slashed maize. The Fertiliser support programme has been abused. Is it any wonder that the maize output may decline?
Lack of forecast and planning.Where is the bumper harvest? Mundia should come back and serve as agriculture minister. Maybe some sanity will be restored.
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yaba! i mean not supporting farmers in #3
RB felt happy for the compliments!!, sory sir am jst disturbed for the loss to warton sudan….
This is not news. Even a kid knows that there will be less maize this year. Akhulu chitene, has destroyed farming!
Jenks
Are you saying that we’ve lost the game? By how many?
chaba chani
i think LT is also bored
This will not solve our hungry people.
i blame the council for slashing maize
We more Zambians to become farmers. Give me 4 years
and ill be a huge commercial farmer pa Zed.
The maize production may reduce so what? CSO figures differ from that of MACO. So who do you believe? Moreover the Ministry of Agric has been neglected. There are no more donors in key maize producing districts.
Bahamududu do not sensetionalise the fact that some cooperatives did not get fert. not all coops qualify! Some coops have no track record. Do not champion the cause of inept coops.
LT chewed my post because of one tiny word.
However, Zambia is always in need of food for the whole nation and so needs all the hands on deck. The fact that Chipata council slashed maize yesterday means they are sabotaging GRZ efforts and so need to be charged.
crap!!! stop singing childish songs.why continue cheating us.today its bamper harvest the next day its poverty why?
fertiliser is also a big issue its only ba”some of us” that have access to it pantu ninshi?
LT is are you sure this is the 2007/2008 crop forecast??? This is when they are releasing the info?? hhmmmmm you can laugh. Just imagine these guys carried out their survey in april last year and this is when they are releasing the findings. What nosense. So govnt did not have data to plan on food security. So then dont blame nyama soya that he has faild, they did not give hime necessary data by the CSO.
I am very dissapointed by this.
~X(~X(~X(~X(8-x8-x:-t:-t:-t:-t%-(%-(
Bye bloggers :-h
see you all tommorow. stay blessed:)>-
Remeber to say your[-o< before you sleep.
Time fi start cultivate other foodstuffs. We bredren inna West Africa & down a carribean dem nah even have no maize but for over 400 years now dem survive pon banana, yellow yam & green cassava. Not fi mention de herb!
Zambia should seriously evaluate its position on genetically modified maize. Its working for them in South Africa and all corners of the world. Lets take that route and tripple production. Seed banks can store for the just in case.
:d/ Vima GMO bane!
Lelo lelo. Next months budget will make no reference to this.
Why the decline?
Government should identify commercial farmers to grow winter maize this year. It is much cheaper than importing maize.
This is weired. I thought everyone with interest in this issue is already in the know. I have known since June 2008 that the maize output for the 2007/2008 season was 1.2m tonnes. This was 200 000 tonnes less than the 2006/7 season when the country harvested 1.4m tonnes. Please LT it seems your editorial standards are south bound!
The decline will certainly not be as a result of the weather forces, but it will be as a result of expensive and inaccessible agriculture imputs for vulnerable but viable small scale farmers. 😕
Lt seems to have good headlines but often the articles do not cover the basics. In this story for example, why is there a decline? Obviously the undelivered Monze fertilizer is not the reason.
Boy arrested: What, where, why,who? And why id this arrest worthy of an article above all others?
It would be useful to include these aspects in the articles. At the very least, the articles should be updated as more information becomes available.
…Boy arrested: What, where, why,who? And why is this arrest worthy of an article above all others?
#27 Jaro
It is called having shallow minds. No depth. It’s not only LT. A lot of press articles in Zambia are so shallow. It’s like journalists are lazy to think. May be we can blame the schools that train them.
#29 contd
This problem of shallow minds is so serious and so perverse in our country. You can see it in many areas. Take time to obbserve our ministers. They rarely seem to have thought through what they are talking about. Now, if that is the mindset we have in those who govern us, then we have a serious problem. You need deep thinkers and analytical minds in leaders. Shallowness of mind can be seen in poor management, planning, disaster handling etc in our country.
Think about it. RB and Obama got elected at same time. Now compare how they are going about their presidency. Something is wrong with our fundamentals. May be our education system does not stimulate our minds enough.