By JUDTH NAMUTOWE
AGRICULTURE and Livestock Minister Given Lubinda has prioritised the review of the agriculture sector to make it more viable and earn foreign exchange.

. Lubinda

Mr Lubinda said there were a number of policies requiring to be reviewed and was currently engaging various stakeholders in the agriculture sector.
“For many years I have been listening to my predecessors, Government officials who have been saying that we ought to diversify the, agriculture sector from maize. But look at the actual interventions, what have we done, have we increased production in alternative crops such as cow peas, sunflower, groundnuts?  No, instead we have increased maize production,” Mr Lubinda said.
He said it was for this reason that he was hesitant to issue statements on the agriculture sector because he wanted to listen to sector players, especially the farmers on how best to improve the performance of the sector.
“I have the agriculture background, but I cannot claim that because of my background, then am a guru in the sector, I want to listen to everyone involved in agriculture so that together we shall find answers to the many vexing issues in the sector,” he said.
Mr Lubinda expressed sadness at the fact that Zambia was producing 3.3 million tonnes of maize, but at a price that was not economical and could not compete favourably with neighbouring countries.
He noted that the way the Fertilizer Input Support Programme (FISP) was arranged, was that it encouraged farmers to produce more and that Government was setting up prices so that small scale farmer could make an income, but that was making the output very expensive, such that even if the country was to export it needed to be subsidised.
He said there was an urgent need to look at the support the Government was giving to the farmers because they were not happy about that as some wanted to venture into livestock production.