Mpongwe Member of Parliament Gabriel Namulambe has cautioned government against adopting policies that will affect food production in the country.
Mr. Namulambe said any policies such as the scrapping off of maize subsidies would negatively affect the production of the staple food in the country.
The opposition parliamentarian said a drop in food production would cause the government to begin importing maize from other countries.
Mr. Namulambe said this would not only cost the country a lot of resources but would also create employment in the countries that Zambia would be buying maize from while narrowing employment opportunities locally.
And Mr. Namulambe has urged government to clarify its position on the procedure involved in the maize marketing system for 2012.
He added that right now there are rumors going round in his constituencies that one needs a voter’s card to open an account to get money from the Food Reserve Agency (FRA).
Mr.Namulambe noted that there is a lot of distortion of information on the maize marketing system a situation that seems to bother the farmers.
He has since advised the government to be consistent and clear in its policies in the agricultural sectors in order to continue boosting production of maize and other foods.
Mr. Namulambe was speaking to QFM news
CNP has no policy for anything apart from insulting citizen and appointing his lazy relatives.
shetani of all the things!!!!!
the problem with farmers is they sell all seeds and fertilizers given to them and end up buying cheap seeds…..i dont know what must be done best for our farming policy
exactly what the article is highlighting. Farmers are not protected by the government
Do not grow Maize [it is a political crop] and Cotton [it is investor crop], so starting rearing animals like village chickens [for current expenditure], pigs [high profit returns], cattle [insurance and long term investment] and goats [stable investment]. Grow maize, groupnuts, sunflower and watermelon for your own consumption and as animal feed.
Sense!!
But you should have added an insult or two to make sure people read it.
Do not grow Maize [it is a political crop] and Cotton [it is investor crop], so starting rearing animals like village chickens [for current expenditure], pigs [high profit returns], cattle [insurance and long term investment] and goats [stable investment]. Grow maize, groundnuts, sunflower and watermelon for your own consumption and as animal feed.
Timely advise and one would hope the PF and Sata are listening. There is evidently too many stories of “things” not working well within FRA. Loaders and warehouse employees not being paid, farmers being short changed on maize purchase price, transporters not being paid on time etc. all these things will soon reach a boiling point and it will either be “misunderstood” or blame HH or MMD for misinformation. Watch this space….
lf you want you can stop supporting farmers because you don’t know what makes a farmer produce the staple food because you have never been a farmer.We know the group of people you want to make suffer but these have lived with or without maize subsidies.
You have already forgeten that it was Guy Scot who killed agriculture form 1991 when he was minister of agrculture and rongly advised the then Chluba government. just give them more time, there will be bumper farmine in the country.
Be serious imwe guys who are in that government.
It was not Guy Scott that killed agric in 1991. It was IMF and World Bank advice to scrap subsidies. Then in the same farming season 1991/92, there was a severe drought that affected Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi and other SADC countries. Guy Scott managed to arrange for relief Yellow Maize from USA. Could have been Genetically Modified maize for pigs, but you survived. Then they repeated this advice to LEVY who REFUSED!
Somehow it played out well that no subsidies were administered in 1991 since all the monies could have been wasted in the effects of THAT DROUGHT. So it was a saving. By then we tended to believe every suicidal and treacherous advice from IMF/WB Bretton Institutions. These people wanted us to make fiscal adjustment policies “without a human face”. This is what DEBT could do. We danced to the tune of the piper!
Take note that whenever there is a change of government or leadership, the IMF/WB try to seize the opportunity to impose their theoretical and inhuman policies. They thought Levy, just as I did initially, was wishy-washy and could accept such impositions. Levy and Sikatana were lawyers. They did their own thing. They refused GMOs and said no Zambian would starve! They boldly introduced subsidies and brought the Fertiliser Support Programme (FSP)!
Under Levy, we recorded the first surplus maize production in a long, long time. Rupiah Banda took this facility on and made it broader. Fertiliser Support Programme was changed to Farmer Input Support programme (FISP) because it was a pack of fertiliser and seed. He increased the number of beneficiaries while reducing on pack size per farmer. In these years we were blessed with good rains also. Result? Bumper after bumper to the point of wasting! Mmmm, IMF/WB vultures watching
By this time there was discontent with MMD in the country and youth unemployment was too high. This, partly a result of speedy and wholesome implementation of the same IMF/WB policies like indiscriminate privatisation and reckless liberalisation. As at the September, 2011 elections, Zambians rejected MMD and employed PF! What do we see and hear? IMF/WB are out to say govt out of maize business! No buying, no inputs! mwe ba byangi, tukofwapo lukoso na ba IMF/WB aba mwatemwa.
This is Truth !!! I love your analysis. As policy analyst,I can’t agree with u more. IMF/WB are ruthless with no interest for zambia and for Africa. IMF/WB need educated leadership to challenge their bias  towards the west. They are agents of the west with only one agenda,”to destroy and weakening Zambia and african economies,” inorder to create market and dormination by their pay masters…The events of the 1980s-1990s are clear evidence…..Thank God Levy exposed them and their shameless schemes and proved ,Zambian interests can only be developed by Zambians. But would uneducated leadership analyse these truths and stand up to these vultures?
All the IMF/WB policies should be critically and seriously scrutinized before implememntation. Exam them and see if they are making sense, if not them put those policies in the rubbish bin period. On input subsidies please dont at any second listen to them coz we have tested their uselesssly inhuman policy of libralization and privatization.