By Mingeli Palata
It’s only natural that the issue of food is on top of the mind for most people and certainly for me. I fail to perform to expected levels when my stomach is not tightly gripped. I choose to believe that most of you share this view. You many not really understand the food crisis in this country until like me you meet the likes of Justin Mwemba, a taxi driver in Lusaka whom I met the previous week. Aside from struggling to make his cashing markup, I got to learn that Justin is also a father to two and a husband of one wife who lives with his family in Bauleni compound. The man vividly put the deteriorating hunger situation in the country, describing the cost of living and the price of mealie meal in particular as unattainable for most average Zambians.
True to the word, in the past year, the issue of mealie meal prices has been one of great interest to most Zambians and it was only a few weeks ago when we were told that Zambia will experience a poor harvest this year, alarming isn’t it? Yet this is the order of the day- year after year. The price of mealie meal is negatively affected by mismanagement of food administration and low agriculture output, as much as it is affected by weather patterns.
I need not overstate the fact that Zambia has a special God-given capacity to feed itself and its neighbors.Despite countless efforts made to urge government to put agriculture in the center stage of their undertakings for both internal food security and foreign exchange purposes, there has been little done in this area. Today agricultural news is still rocked by unattainable fertilizer prices and maize grain price scandals. It is obvious that the system being used to make these much needed agricultural inputs available is not working. This is not only embarrassing but detrimental to aspirations of ensuring sustainable food security and making Zambia the ultimate food basket in Africa.
Firstly there is a lot of mismanagement, low innovation and lack of priority that characterizes operations at the FRA. In frantic efforts to know what the problem is, I was shocked to learn that both commercial and subsistence farmers find it more profitable to sell the maize to opaque beer brewers or foreign nations rather than the government simply because alcohol brewers for instance offer to buy the grain at double the price. Why can’t government rectify this anomaly? I suggest that deliberate regulation be effected to woo farmers to vend the grain to the FRA by offering attractive prices and terms.Smart economic measures such as high taxation and regulation should be effected to discourage farmers from selling their maize to ‘opaque beer brewers’.
Secondly, Government needs to take a more deliberate action other than relying on selfish private commercial farmers, who would rather sell their maize grain to the Congo than the FRA. I suggest that the state identify key farmers so as to equip and position them in strategic locations for the sole purpose of achieving food security in our beloved country. These strategic state aided farms should be equipped with state of the art farming equipments, inputs, an all season irrigation system that enables winter farming (tapped from the numerous mighty rivers we are endowed with) and objective government supervision to ensure that food shortages and crazy mealie meal prices are a the thing of the past.
Lastly, Zambia also suffers from a self inflicted addiction to maize- somehow we believe that the only thing worth being called food is maize meal- nshima. This should notbe the case.There are other foodstuffs like rice, cassava, Irish potatoes, sweet potatoes, that can supplement maize as the staple food. Government needs to take deliberate action to fight this stereotype and promote other foodstuff to combat hunger in this country. I will give you an example of Cassava, a crop I am most familiar with because my grand mother in Kapompo grows the crop. Cassava is cheap and convenient to grow; it is rich in carbohydrates and will not let you down should your basal metabolic rate be higher than the average Zambian. Yet it is very drought resistant, doesn’t need fertilizer and can grow in various soils with minimum supervision. The advantages that Cassava has over maize are immense and I see no reason why it should not be promoted as a staple food of choice.
We need to see more inspiring deliberate action and more government innovative regulation to ensure that the country has maximum food security so that Justin Mweemba and his family are well fed. This in my view is the government’s primary responsibility and there is no room for excuses.
If we start thinking beyond Nshima, i dont think we will crying foul everytime the mealie meal prices go up. Lets change our mindset.
Food is very important and should always come first in every agenda.
The author of this article is spot on. No need for my comments. He has said it all. Next?
mweba kumushi mwishibe ukuti icakulya te bwali fye, nshima ubwaila no kasuba… twalomba Lesa atwefweko.
Mingeli I agree with most of the stuff you have said. The fact that government is not making any progress in making farming inputs available is scary.
What we need is getting back to what we had in the past-NAMBOARD. We need to start giving loans to farmers and ensuring fertiliser is available. We have more than enough agriculture extension officers to ensure the programme runs smoothly.
I do not agree though on one thing-inshima batata.
Ubwali bwali. You can give me rice, sphagetti, pizza you name it, I won`t feel like I have eaten. It`s like going to an Indian and telling him to switch to Nshima from his rice.
Batata inshima yena, umuntu kuti afwilapo.
Hey I don’t think its wise to eat large quantities of cassava.Its been known to cause cyanide poisoning.Viva ubwali.Rice is too expensive, sweetpotatoes are good nembalala at tea time!
The problem with food security in Zambia originates from our inability to liberate ourselves from ‘food colonialism.’ Maize was never a staple food for the various ethnicities in Zambia. Our sources of Grain were Sorghum and Millet. Cassava was also another staple. However everything changed in 1924 with the passage of the colonial government’s Maize Ordinance. The passage of this law forced Africans to switch to the cultivation of maize in all the 4corners of the country. Kaunda continued with this myopic policy after Independence and we have never attained food security. There should be a deliberate policy by govt 4us to go back 2basics.
Farmers could considere growing sorghum as well. Sorghum is more drought resistance, and was cultivated especially in the northern province before. At least you will be still able to eat nshima (from sorghum flour). Just need to get used to the diffent taste!
#6 Chocolate you get cyanide poisoning only from eating raw or unprocessed Cassava. You cant get it from Cassava meal.
Ya Diversity is key in this food issue. While nshima is appreciated in most parts of Zambia, I have known some families in this new generation who have trained their kids not to depend upon it. This family lives on one main meal a day. Breakfast for all. Lunch is grab and eat. Dinner for all. It works! NOT Ugali for b/fast lunch and dinner iyo! A good article I would say.
asking Zambians or villagers to include other stuff like pizza, rice, is like asking a muzungu to not only eat rice, pizza but try nhima.
when it comes to fashion people rebuke the copying of Western fashion so why with food.
back home it goes like mwamuna nipa mala so is mukazi. Nshima goes down with sashi, beef, chicken stew, name them…..
That cassava looks juicy, yummmmmmmmiiiiiiieeee. will take a driver to Soweto market and get some. will wait till it starts raining then sit down with legs stretched on the stool and enjoy.
#11
Who ever told you Mkazi nipamala? You are advised next time to consult us the women…Hello?? I feel insulted actually. Mukazi is much more than that…PLEASE!!
Ba Moze
Can you please also comment on the story?? 😡
You can get cyanide poisoning from cassava meal depending on the the type of processing and the variety of cassava plant. People involved in processing are at particular risk as the precursor in cassava is volatile and hence dispersed in air. Give me nshima every time!
#5 I share the same view with you. Iam an addict of nsima. Even here i do cook a close substitute of Nshima because i do get tired of rice,potatoes(kartoshka) and others. I agree with Mingelli 100%.
#11.Proudly Zambian; Nshima made from Maize is not indigenous to Zambia. See my post in 7. It is a colonial imposition via colonial legislation…..Maize Ordinance (1924). Maize is a crop brought from the Americas. It is a native American (Indian) crop. The indigenous crops native to Zambia are Sorghum and Millet which the colonialists perjorativelt called ‘Kaffir Corn.’ Sorghum and Millet are cheaper to grow. They dont need a heavy outlay of chemical fertilisers and are also drought resistant unlike Maize. We will never sort out our food security if we continuing thinking like you do.Muzungus dont have a staple.Rice is not even a European Food. It is Asian 4God’s sake.
Putting agriculture first should not only be about agricultural imputs, governement must change the education system to match with the agriculture policies. Agriculture Science must be one of basic subjects like Mathematics in all schools. Nkrumah University should have been used to train graduates to teach agriculture science related subject like Agro Business
zambia should seriously place food production at a central stage. zambia has the potential to feed herself and the region. there is need to invest heavily in agriculture. RB, being a farmer, should drive our contry towards food reliancy and sufficiency. here, the stapple food, rice is almost free or even free.
mean self reliancy
Babie
yashani iyo?? Go easy. you are giving people the wrong impression ka?Waziba? 😮
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Mingeli palata, you know how to analysis issues,keep it up…
I often wonder why we only think maize is the only food. maize is not only expensive to produse but it’s a contavesial crop. VIVA cassava, sweet potatoes, millet, Beans etc. It’s rare to hear of starvation in Northen and Luapula provinces because they don’t depend on maize. Stop crying over maize;switch to the alternative.
#16,If we follow History very well,we will also say sorghum and millet are not native to Zambia.These were brought by the Arab-swahili traders and Europeans. Remember the Ing’ombe ilede and the googs traded. So what is native to us is Wild roots and fruits then.
praise God i can afford maize, rice or potatoes. People need to understand that of the three, maize is the cheapest mu zambia and more readily and easy to cultivate. When we talk of diversification, still lets put maize first.
when you move from lusaka to chililabombwe, you will be amazed at how much land remains unused. If the governement could deliberately utilize these lands and plant a lot lot of maize, bukachipa ubunga.
also change mazabuka COMPLETELY into sugarcane, completely
I don’t know whether it is a good idea to let the governement support just a few key farmers as the writer of this article suggests. The government should support smalll scale farmers by making sure that they have access to farm inputs, improved varieties (more research needed), and knowledge. Diverstiy should be promoted to make sure that farmers able to cope with climate changes etc. In this way, you can achieve food security and provide income to many small scale farmers in Zambia, which will have a positive impact on many other developement activities such as education.
NEXT ARTICLE PLEASE. THIS IS BORING
Everywhere you go in the world there is a staple food or rather national food. SO PLEASE WE SHOULD JUST FIND A SOLUTION OF FOOD SECURITY IN ZAMBIA. IT IS A SHAME THAT SINCE 1964 WE ARE STILL TALKING ABOUT FOOD SHORTAGES. WHY?
LETS SIT DOWN AND SEE WHERE THE PROBLEM IS AND DO SOMETHING. WE HAVE A LOT EDUCATED AND LEARNED PEOPLE IN ZAMBIA WHO CAN DO WONDERS.
VISIT OTHER COUNTRIES AND SEE HOW THEY THRIVING PLEASE…..
Cotton 4 president
Zambia without Nshima is like America without Apple-pie or Fast Food – AN ILLUSION!!!
Ba #28 man kinde naimwe, bushe ni “cotton”? Ni “Cottan”! Yaba…;)
*-:)8-x Nshima 4 life.
VIVA UBWALI
#23 Sharp Shooter which history are you following. Both the Europeans and Arabs termed Srghum and Millet as ‘Kaffir corn’. Kaffir is a derogative Arab term. The Arabs were the first to call it as such. And later the Europeans followed suit. Bantu speaking people have never been hunter gatherers. We have been pastoralists and cultivators. In Zambia and the rest of Southern Africa we displaced the hunter gatherers i.e the San and khoikhoi. That is why they have ended up in desolte or desert like environs. It was never their choice to live there. They were displaced.
#27. There is no ‘National or staple food’in developed countries. This is nonsense only found in poor countries. Even the Republic of Ireland had to learn the hard way when their so called ‘staple’ was blighted leading to massive starvation and unprecedented migration from the island nation. Today the Irish have no staple diet but a variety of foods like other developed countries!
No. 33 it is not about defining terms and concepts (or simple names), but finding a solution to our hunger stricken nation. what is your contribution in this regard?
So true Mingeli! Last year was the year of the potato, yet when I was home I saw no visible signs that the Govt had taken advantage of the UN distributing free seed and sowing/harvesting manuals!!! I really love my Nsima, nkuku and chibwabwa on the side, but let’s face it, maize can be a difficult crop to grow and the truth is that nsima on its own has little nutritional value. Imagine a diet of okra and nsima daily? Such a person will be malnutritioned. And yet the fake apamwambas in govt continue to deny we have a serious lack of agricultural investment/input! Diversification and investment are the key. Forget free markets when it comes to food. The EU and US all subsidise their farmers
Walasa boyi. I have lived abroad for over three years without Nshima but iam ok and not complaining. Zambians should diverfy they will not regret.Relying on nshima alone is not good enough. Too much of anything is bad.
klNSJW