CSO-SUN says bumper Maize harvest good but…

The Zambia Civil Society Scaling up Nutrition Alliance has welcomed Zambia’s projected record Maize bumper harvest for the 2013/2014 agricultural season.

Alliance National Coordinator William Chilufya says the development is welcome especially that a Maize bumper harvest was not anticipated considering that there were reports in many parts of Zambia not having accessed farming inputs in good time.

“We wish to congratulate Government on recording yet another maize bumper harvest. As an Alliance congratulate farmers and the Government for the announced record high production of maize. This was indeed not anticipated considering that there were reports in many parts of the country not having accessed farming inputs in good time. As people are still contesting whether this is true or not-one of the best ways is to see to what extent the current high price of mealie meal is reduced in the near future,” Mr Chilufya stated.
 
He added, “We understand and support Government’s interventions in ensuring we have surplus food and that no one goes hungry. We also believe this surplus food must be nutritious enough to guarantee the health of the people.”
 
Mr Chilufya however noted with sadness a common perception that sufficient or surplus maize production is synonymous with ‘good nutrition’.

“Production of diverse crops and animal foods is given low priority must also be given the same high priority. This attitude, if unchecked, will also marginalise the high impact nutrition interventions promoted through the National Scaling Up Nutrition launched by Vice president Guy Scott which emphasizes diet diversity,” he said.
 
Mr Chilufya stated that the major form of malnutrition Zambia is facing is protein-energy malnutrition.

“This type of malnutrition occurs when the human body does not consume enough protein and calories. Most childhood deaths are caused from this type of malnutrition. It is therefore important to promote diet diversification through the consumption of a variety of protein rich foods in order to adequately tackle malnutrition,” he said.

Mr Chilufya said the Zambia Civil Society Scaling up Nutrition Alliance recommend that Government strengthen support of small livestock farming, such us Goats, pigs, sheep and the like so that the majority of people can benefit from much needed animal protein.
 
“Furthermore, we note that while the country may record a bumper harvest, there are places in this country that do not have this same maize and they in desperate need. This may have been due to poor rainfall or late distribution of input.”
 
He said it will be sad to hear of cases of people going hungry without mealie meal in some parts of the country while the nation celebrates bumper harvest.
“We have to ensure at all costs that people have access to this bumper harvest especially in areas that may have experienced poor production. Our understanding as highlighted by the Minister of Agriculture is that enough maize has been produced in the country to feed all the people and some of it to be exported.  We hope that with this alarming truth, many people will not suffer from chronic hunger today,” Mr Chilufya stated.

He urged government, through Social Protection programs to ensure vulnerable populations benefit from bumper harvests.

Mr Chilufya said there is a huge disparity in Zambia between people with adequate food and those starving or malnourished.

“We need to strive to close this gap and allow everyone to have access to high-quality food in the proper amounts. The root causes of poor distribution include the lack of infrastructure such as markets and transportation routes, waste, inefficiency in markets, and poverty. We need to work on these factors to create a world in which all have access to food at affordable prices,” he observed.