VICE-PRESIDENT George Kunda has said the Government, through the Sixth National Development Plan (SNDP) has started developing farm blocs, industrial enterprises and outgrower schemes to promote urban-rural migration.
Mr Kunda said the Government would promote and facilitate development of rural-based industrial enterprises to encourage urban-rural migration.
He said the Government was working on interventions aimed at promoting appropriate infrastructure in rural areas and encourage onsite agro-processing in all agricultural farm blocs.
Mr Kunda was responding to oral questions from Patriotic Front (PF) Kanyama Member of Parliament (MP) Gerry Chanda, who wanted to know whether the Government had any plans to encourage people to settle in rural areas of the country in light of the escalating urbanisation.
Colonel Chanda also asked the Government when the programme would start for pilot purposes, which localities and whether any areas had been identified.
“Mr Speaker, the Government is working hard to ensure many development projects are carried out to all parts of the country and people are appreciating all our efforts.
“We are currently promoting and creating effective linkages between agricultural farm blocs like Nansanga, industrial estates and outgrower schemes such as sugar plantations in Mazabuka where many local farmers are engaged in growing of sugar in rural areas and in this way poverty will be eradicated,” Mr Kunda said.
Contributing to the same questions, Deputy Minister in the office of the vice-president, Daniel Munkombwe told the House that the Government would invest more than K22.1 billion from 2011 to 2015 for the rural industrialisation exercise.
He said implementation of the Decentralised Implementation Plan (DIP) would play a key role in accelerating regional development to encourage more people to settle in rural areas.
Mr Munkombwe said the Government believed that maximisation of value addition to peasant agriculture through the revival of agriculture-based industries would attract many people to settle in rural areas.
Mr Munkombwe said urban drift would be managed on the basis of regional development aimed at promoting balanced development, coordinated through a decentralised and coherent process.
[Times of Zambia]
Stop this stupidit’y RED LIPS. Kaunda was the champion of GOING BACK TO THE LAND. Has he gone?
Your boss was plucked from the village by Mwanawasa, alas he’s got a plot just behind York Farms where he wants his retirement house built. He doesn’t want to go back to the village no more. Go back to the village after all you’ve got mobile hospitals which I hope will be at your village everytime you feel sick
it is a great plan which shud have been hatched long ago. and yes kaunda championed it but lack of continuity in our govts has killed lots of developmental ideas formulated after independence. no other president has continued what kaunda started such that kk now looks like he was merely wasting money creating white elephants in the rural areas. if anything the great chiluba killed it completely by selling govt houses to sitting tenants minus building other ones to cater for future council workers,future teachers and future govt workers indeed and now we have a crisis in housing. that way he also automatically ensured that no1 goes back to the land and he inversely incurred no costs in developing the said rural areas. i hope RB and his govt will make it happen..
Go back to the land? Mission impossible! Just look at how you’ve failed farmers. They”ve to fight to sell their produce to FRA. You think anyone can be interested in suffering in the rural areas. Your Ministers and other senior Govt officials are busy buying the so called farms (simple pieces of land) just after the Independence Stadium and you want others into the forests. Lead by example.
That is politiking at its worst. There was rural urban migration during the early 1970’s and shanty compounds mashroomed up. With lack of industries and govt neglect of rural areas which fool would think of going back to the village. We shall all crammed here coz even the much pronounced urban road rehabilitation is taking place along the line of rail whilst rural areas have been left out. A ckeck in Solwezi as an example the roads in the townships are very bad yet that is the place producing a third of our copper exports.Even proceeds from sale of Lumwana Mine wont help the province. Veep GK there is need to have more being done otherwise pipo will continue coming to Lusaka to seek green pastures. Even traders now have to buy goods from Lusaka and not provincial centres. Shame on you GK.
no more parliament for you GK and we will see who will vote for you because you always feel like having sex when we are suffering!
Start with that old man who left his ka farm in chipata and migrated to state house in lusaka.
@1 you cracked my ribs. You cant force people to go to rural areas circumstances will force us to migrate such as when all the land in Lusaka is taken up then we shall move to our villages in search of space for now tilibonse mukalale
It is very sad to see Kunda picking his nose in public. What kind of behaviour is this. His picture on the zamnet news is clear. What a shame.
#4 you’ve made my day
Your Boss “RB” was crying yesterday, what about you RED LIPS, Kalileko NAIWE. Go to chiluba’s House.
Kamudala Ka chiluba will be put to rest Muma Yard?? Nomba RED LIPS will be Chingwele. ..
Who would want to go to the village? Everyone wants to make money in Lusaka and the copperbelt!!!!
Haha Back to the Land, no original ideas left
He is lying again. We all know that the farm blocks being developed are aimed at appeasing White people from outside Zambia while Zambians languish where ever they are without amenities of life. Kunda is such a hypocrite that his face can be seen in any decent dictionary when you look up the word “Corrupt”.
I dont see anything wrong with this idea, come on guys.
Zombians (Zambians with no mind of their own) i.e
-Shikapwasha
– Kunda
– senior citizen
Roads to Villages do not exist, and the Mobile Hospitals wont reach anybody, in addition, there is no clean running water in villages, it does not take a scientist to know that Kunda has smoked something to utter what he has vomited.
Yo dont even need to talk about it. Just develop the rural areas with first class shopping malls, international airports, big hospitals, large industries, we will willingly go back.
Why doesn’t George lead by example and be the first one to go rural?
By the way, why dont we try to build an administration city so that we leave lusaka as a commercial city. Say we move statehouse and parliament there like what the Nigerians did with Abuja or Entebbe in Uganda? Its better now before its too late. There is nothing impossible we can build a brand new city somwhere along the the Kafue river!
It least Anne sees the sense
These guys have refused to get money from mining giants as windfall tax, and as such they castrated themselves long ago financially by this action. To build world-class infrastructure, we need all the money we can earn from our resources and Kunda and Co. are such imbeciles that there is no better word to describe their betrayal of the Zambian people while in office. This is why they do not want to leave office until death does them apart!!
Milomo kwati chikala..or sorry chikanda
” Government to promote Urban to Rural migration ”
The government isn’t willing to do anything of the sort, because they refuse to tax the mines. To build rural infrastructure – roads, small dams and irrigation works, storage, etc. – takes money. And they refuse to collect all of the $1300 million a year they are owed by the mining industry.
There is an old song that was sang by American soldiers returning from world war 2, “how can you ask the farmer to go back to the farm after he has seen Paris”