President Edgar Lungu has predicted that the country will record a bumper harvest in the 2020/2021 farming season.
President Lungu says he is confident that this year, the country will have a bumper harvest because the maize crop planted across the country looks promising.
“This year, we are going to celebrate a bumper harvest. Am not a prophet, but I can see that there is a lot of maize coming through unless something goes wrong. Let us keep it up, we should be proud people because we work hard,” he said.
President Lungu said this when he addressed exhibitors who displayed various agricultural inputs during his visit to the Zambia Agriculture Research Institute (ZARI) in Chilanga today.
Meanwhile, President Lungu has attributed lack of innovation and scientific research as a contributing factor to many farmers being poor in the country.
President Lungu urged ZARI to assist farmers with improved seed varieties so as to enable them maximize on their investment and improve on crop production.
He wondered why some farmers are poor when the market for agricultural produce is readily available.
President Lungu counselled farmers to take advantage of the growing population by growing enough food to feed the people.
“All of us involved in farming should be rich people because the market is always there. When talk about farming everybody eats, so I do not see why a farmer should be poor when market is always there,” President Lungu said.
“What is making us poor is lack of innovation and lack of scientific research and approach to farming business, I want to thank ZARI, please keep it up continue helping the farmers to add value to their crop and maximize on their returns or investment,” he said.
President Lungu reiterated government’s commitment to ensuring that the agriculture sector thrives.
The Head of State pointed out that the success of any farmer lays in the quality of seed planted and the good soils are also required for the seed to grow.
“As government, we want to involve ourselves starting from the soil, to the seed, water, to the product that comes out from the seed. We want to ensure that farmers get a good yield from the seed.
“I have learnt a lot of what ZARI is doing here, but allow me to say that they have realised that the secret of a successful farm is in the quality of seed. The seed does not go alone in the soil, but with how much water and nutrition is available,” said President Lungu.
The President has since commended the Ministry of Agriculture and ZARI staff for their commendable works in ensuring that the country is food secure.
And speaking earlier, Minister of Agriculture, Michael Katambo informed the President that the research activities being carried out at ZARI are responsive to the emerging trends in the agriculture sector.
Mr Katambo said the ministry is working towards expanding the research activities to cover different fruit and tree crops.
Let’s prepare to pay the farmers
Quickly for the bumper harvest.
We buy cheaply from them and we
Export to DRC at very high price.
Let’s pay them good price.
Actually, lungu , your life depended on good rains……..
The good rains have bought you a temporary stay of judgment…….
With everything else tits up, if rains were bad you could have been history by now.
WHY DOES THE GOVERNMENT HAVE TO BE PRAISED FOR SOMETHING THEY HAVE NO CONTROL OF ??
THE RAINS ARE SENT BY GOD AND HE IS NON PARTISAN TO MY KNOWLEDGE
All he knows is to steal, what does he know about hard work, useless ati bumper harvest, babwelako fyi… Meno meno, the ka worst president on earth
Bumper harvest and a successful pf relection. It is going to be a good year. I have even asked my company accountants to prepare bonuses for all my workers. Bumper harvest means we could even send relief food to Europe because there the economy is hammering them. Meanwhile, I need some legal help as a f00lish friend in diaspora who I lent money has failed to pay me back a single ngwee in 5 years.
kikikiki DREAMER
But the price of mealie meals keeps going up
@Johnny. Well at least he’s a million times better than your father. Just because you are a failure in life doesn’t mean you can hide behind a keyboard and spew your hatred.
This lazy bum just spews nonsensical from his mouth….he talks of research and innovation yet this Zambia Agriculture Research Institute (ZARI) in Chilanga has been the same this KK’s era surviving on funding from donors whilst his govt is building $1m/km roods.
….same since KK’s era surviving….
Lungu has given us a bumper harvest of debts and grim economic stats since 2015.
@III say what I want… Chi colour chanoko na Lungu… Million times better naiwe Chi colour… Ur mother is a lose b1tch
The weather conditions have been good for farming so what is there to predict? Not news worth.
@ I will say what I want, so lungu meno meno is ur father, then we all know how dull and useless you are like your dander head id1ot of a father, what woman would have a child with this loser anyway, your b1tch mother… probably a lose whor3
Indeed Gayzar Zulu it’s going to be a good year. Bumper harvest, PFake is going to lose the election, and you and your gay friends will go to jail. And all Zambians will celebrate!
If this dull man Lungu said we would as govt invest so much in research and innovation in Agriculture back in 2015, Zambia would be the breadbasket of Africa but we all know this lazy bum did not have a vision at all…Mwanawasa and his Agriculture minister were having harvests in winter in dry season….this smiling fooooooool Lungu needs to just step down and let someone else take over in PF.
Allow the farmers to export their products without interference the way it’s done here in South Africa farmers here are very rich because they sell their own farm products to who ever want to buy within the country or outside the country it’s their choose and their prices and market related and competitive but there you exploit them by forcing them to sell their maize grain to FRA at very low price and they are not paid on the spot but credit that’s unacceptable Maize grain is not a commodity one can sell on credit it’s a cash based commodity it’s just like diesel one can’t go at the petrol filling station to up diesel in his or her car on credit they per cash so is maize grain
This is because most of the industries the whole world where on rock down due to covid hence low emission to pollute the ozone lawer hence good rains.
Hats off to our hard working fellow farmers. Production has not been the issue. Post harvest management has always been our ugly evil. We fail to collect and store for long term use and so when we experience a bad season, we become vulnerable immediately. We need to develop long term storage infrastructure such that we can be food secure even without sowing a seed for three years. And it can be done! Private sector can be key to achieve this. Also policy consistency w.r.t maize especially is crucial. This export bans are counter productive and traps farmers into poverty!
The words ‘bumper harvest’ remind me of the Soviet Union days. Every year the Soviet’s Pravda (Truth) newspaper, reported that there was a bumper harvest of wheat and potatoes. Meanwhile, the people were having shortages of food. In the wealthy western countries, you never hear of bumper harvests and yet people always have enough to eat. Mmmm. Food for thought.
@Johnny. Touched a nerve there did I? Anyway as usual the UPND way, nothing intelligent to say, can’t analyse issues or debate, resort to insults!!!
THE RAINS GOOD THIS YEAR BECAUSE LOCKDOWN WHICH REDUCED CARBON EMISSION INTO THE ATMOSHRERE MULEISHIBA UTUNTU
KIKIKIKIKIKI ABOVE POST ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^