By Melody Mwala
The Zambia National Farmers Union (ZNFU) has welcomed the declaration of drought as a national disaster by the Republican President Mr. Hakainde Hichilema and the measures that will be taken to mitigate and resolve the negative effects of this drought.
The Union is pleased that Government will in view of this declaration, be re-aligning its resources to come to the aid of the farmer and that those farmers that have loans or are not insured will have their situations looked at.
In a statement obtained Solwezi Today, ZNFU President Jervis Zimba says the Union agrees that high on the agenda, among short-term measures in dealing with the drought of this magnitude, is to safeguard human food requirements and avoid mortality due to drought effects.
“This begs for deliberate efforts by government to have measures in place that will ensure that both human and animal life are taken care of.
“Therefore, animal feed requirements must be factored in when determining the shortfall of grain or other crops needed for feed stocks and Government must ensure that number three meal is available in the country and at affordable prices for animals,” Mr Zimba said.
ZNFU has also commended Government for prioritising local production and productivity by committing itself to purchase all locally produced staple food to ascertain the deficit before considering importing additional maize and other crops into the country.
Mr Zimba has also welcomed the call by President Hichilema for farmers to avail themselves to producing more winter crops this year to reduce on expected harvest deficit.
“The Union embraces this and is available to participate in the team effort under the various streams that will be established. Our desire will be to see that actions of the dialogue processes are implemented in a fast-paced manner synonymous with emergency as the situation demands so that the outcome is felt,” he said.
He said the Union notes that the disaster at hand also underscores the fragile nature of farming in this part of the world because of limited irrigation investments and high dependency on hydro generated electricity.
Requirements are supported for them to produce new crops and foods within the shortest possible time.
This is according to a statement issued by ZNFU Media and Public Relations Services Manager – Communication, Elias M. Banda.
