President Lungu says the country has enough maize stock under the Food Reserve Agency-FRA- and that the no maize shortage is expected.
The Head of State has further directed FRA and Farmers to adequately utilise the maize that the country has.
President Lungu was speaking to journalists at the ZAF Samora Machel Air force base in Mbala before proceeding to Muchinga Province for his country wide fact-finding tour.
Meanwhile President Lungu says Zambia needs to focus more on the agriculture sector despite the rise in Copper prices.
And President Lungu has held a closed-door meeting with two chiefs in Chinsali district.
The two are Senior Chief Nkula and Chief Nkweto of the Bemba people.
And speaking after the meeting with the Head of State, senior chief Nkula said he informed the President that the people in Chinsali are happy with the construction of the provincial administration block and other structures in the area.
The traditional leader told reporters that the district will never be the same once all the buildings are completed.
And Chief Nkula said the President assured them that government will ensure the projects are completed on tim
Good to hear that, but you have to support the famers so that we continue to have enough
He is right as well.
Only an !diot would say otherwise
Thanks
BB2014,2016
Iwe Lungu talk about the corruption that has rocked your government starting with yourself. What are you doing about it? That’s more important than the bla bla bla you are talking about
Just as we had a enough clean water and proper sanitation to prevent a cholera out break in Lusaka. This is the easiest president to lie to and they are lying to him again.
Obatala – They are telling him lies because he is foooool who likes to surround himself with Yes men and bootlickers. Do you really think deep down Dora has respect for him when she insulted Sata everyday?
Obatala my brother, this is why i just laugh when i hear them say sela tubombeko when they have no idea what they are doing, they were telling everyone sela tubombeko, but they have screwed up big time, cholera is ravaging lusaka, they busy calling on all stakeholders ati iseni tubombele pamo. Now we telling to handle agriculture with seriousness it deserves ati sela tubombeko.
Dora was supposed to be Muchinga with Ba Edgar, not playing around with ka Mukwita in German.
But this is what they said about Zambia’s external debt, that it was sustainable and within acceptable limits by all economic evaluations. But then Zambia is now seeking a programme with the IMF who have told the Government that our debt profile IS unsustainable. And the President has not fired the people at finance who misinformed him about our debt. It is standard practice all over the world that when a serious blunder happens in government, the Minister and public service officials in charge of the portfolio are held to account and are either forced to resign or are fired. If this is not done it becomes acceptable that you can f*ck up and still remain in office. This is the main reason for weak governments and poor performance in Africa. Now we are talking about maize!!!!!
Your PF party rule ruined Rupiah Banda’s bumper harvests success .
Where is agriculture minister???
She is in Berlin with Anthony writing silly speeches for her!!
In Berlin discussing Livestock trespassing into a colleagues’ ministry
@2 Enka, A bumper harvest is not the credit of any particular leader but only a result good rains and hard working farmers. Man simply sows the seed and nature does the rest.
That said, surplus harvest can also be a problem if there is no proper planning in place, such as sufficient storage space or trade policies. This is where leadership influence comes in.
Nine Chale – Typical …you are typing away not realising that you are contradicting yourself in the next paragraph.
Soon from the same government will be hearing that the government wants to buy maize from South Africa(or where ever) to cushion the maize shortage in the country.
And no one will be held to account for the blunder of putting the nation’s food security at risk.
For several years, the prophets of doom have told us that we will be importing maize. However, apart from domestic consumption, Zambia has exported maize to other SADC countries
The excessive production of 3,6 million tonnes last year vs an annual consumption of 2,2million tons, will hold us in good stead, even if the current crop is affected by drought and pests.
Let both GRZ and private sector ensure safe storage
YES WE DID HAVE A BUMPER HARVEST AND WE DID EXPORT MAIZE – WE EXPORTED SO MUCH MAIZE THAT WE WILL NOT HAVE ENOUGH LEFT TO FEED THE NATION !
“The Head of State has further directed FRA and Farmers to adequately utilise the maize that the country has.”
Clear lack of policy by this lazy moron everywhere he goes he is issuing directives…not even the Army will save him on this one. He is not even ashamed to campaigning
Don’t take anything you read on social media as gospel truth. You’re even busy copying and pasting trush. That’s a twisted report.
“Meanwhile President Lungu says Zambia needs to focus more on the agriculture sector despite the rise in Copper prices.”
How many times have we hear this rhetoric by this Lazy Thing Edgar…he says all this but he is the first one to sign overpriced road contracts, 42×42 Fire tenders, Ambulances and 5000 overpriced civil servants houses.
Only fooools will take this drunk thing seriously
*…we heard this rhetoric
“despite the rise in copper prices” ….Jay Jay why oh why can’t we copy agricultural powerhouses Argentina and New Zealand?
The Presidents sentiments are in Stark Contrast to the utterances from Jarvis Zimba, ZNFU who called for a marshal plan to save agriculture from ruin.
Though ZNFU protects the interests of large commercial farmers, we still urge both parties to put differences aside, and work towards a harmonious relationship in the interest of the nation.
The President should have yielded to the cry for a better maize floor price. Giving the farmers just a 10% increment above the announced price of K60 per bag, would have encouraged farmers into believing that the President is a leader who listens.
Though the President said he would review the price, he never reverted back to the farmers, who were saddened by the price of K60 compared to K85 the previous year.
Interesting also how…
The only reason it was K85 was because it was a campaign year and docile farmers were duped…Lazy Lungu spent money he didnt have and kicked the can further down the road.
… statistically maize production is shifting to the north from the south
This makes sense considering the shifting weather pattern
ECL also needs to work on crop diversification to reduce reliance on maize only
It has nothing to do with weather. All the tongas have thrown their hoes and are in campaign mode hoping that should hh become President all their needs will be provided like manna from God.
All tongas are busy campaigning for their ka god
HH OVAL HEAD You have made me laugh to my bones ati Tongas have thrown their hoes and are in campaign mode that is why maize production has shifted from south to north. No wonder HH is labeled the supreme leader and god of tongas. The man is worshipped, remember when he was incarcerated all the Tonga traditional ceremonies were suspended until he was released, MY GOD. Back to the topic this is good news mr president we need this food security to continue so that Zambia also becomes the food basket of Africa if not the world.
Young man it just shows how little he understands agriculture, maize production is not the only thing that defines agriculture, what wrong with producing maize only for family consumption and animal feed and with the coming in of various agricultural land ripping machinery, it doesn’t matter if people throw away the unip hoe.
Your tribal comments are disgusting. The issue here is about Lungu and his hidden campaign on the ground. The resignation of Kalaba and his thunderous welcome have rendered PF SG ineffective, forcing the Extremely Corruption and Lazy (ECL) to meet the grassroots.
Okay, maybe we have enough maize stock to last us upto 2020, the question is will the poor people be able to afford to buy mealie meal incase there is no bumper harvest, or at least can you guarantee that food prices will remain stable?
Indeed, where will the peasant farmers get money to purchase your maize stocks when they don’t have a crop to sell? Will this maize be for free?
Ba Lungu you have a Diva and incompetent agriculture Ministers who knows nothing about the sector. Yet you are busy making reassurances based non existent facts. How about for once adopting a strategy in agriculture that will cushion perceived deficits – crop wise over a long period of time. Just this once? Mr President, your appointments are also questionable. Take a critical look around you. Do most of your Ministers exhibit the much needed confidence in issues that border on progress for the country? It is for this same reason that the likes of people like Mulongoti are questioning your origins. Is Muchinga province now the new Zambia? You made yourself President for Zambians and the least you can do is balance all forms of equity. You are not just President for particular regions…
If Lazy Lungu had the heart for developing Agriculture in this country …he would have easily nominated a technocrat in that Portfolio but there are too many contracts to oversee and steal so his greediness wouldn’t allow him
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#…..You are not just President for particular regions. Chronologically, your judgement and timing on serious issues remain questionable. And yes, the docility of our nation, in masses fits in well with your inability to function effectively as president. Your fault, nobody elses’! We have forgotten about the corruption and the Mukula logs. Thanks to cholera and the bonus prayers! Zambia has never been the same from the time you came on scene. Not for the better either!!
An error was made with last year’s maize price – it shouldve been higher in the range of K80 to K85. Farmers who are the majority rural dwellers have felt betrayed, I can assure you that farmers don’t forget. Now fewer have farmed we will have very little maize this season. A very, very sad situation which will be even worse than the cholera situation. It will be very embarrassing for us Zambia the leader in maize production to import maize this year! But the reality is it might happen as a result of poor advice from those entrusted, may God judge them accordingly!
Let us consider short and long term utility of Solar Power, Solar Water Pumps and related Irrigation systems to cushion the impact of Drought and Erratic weather patterns.
Diversified Food Production, Processing and Storage should be given priority.
I predict a high floor price for maize this year as Government will seek to buy all the maize grain from farmers for food security, and the farmers will be laughing all the way to the bank.