. Lubinda

By HAPPY  MULOLANI –

ZAMBIA is endowed with a lot of natural and abundant resources, yet the growth of the agricultural sector has been at a slow pace.
It is worth noting that Zambia has great potential and has come up with numerous policies and implemented them to make the agricultural sector viable.
Against this backdrop, a lot of organisations have mushroomed to try and tap this potential as well as exploit the natural resources, which is a positive stride.
However, the Zambian agricultural sector has sadly witnessed the concentration and dependence on maize production, which has to a large extent affected the growth of the  sector.
It is this dependence on maize production that has stifled the diversification process.
More funds have been spent on the purchase of maize by Government through the Food Reserve Agency (FRA), while other sectors have not benefited much.
Indaba of Agricultural Policy Research Institute (IAPRI) Executive Director Chance Kabange says Government’s expenditure on FISP is huge and has mainly benefited more of larger farmers.
Mr Kabange, who was the first executive director of FRA, is of the view that FRA should stick to its mandate of buying maize for strategic reserves noting that it’s the only way, they can avoid making any losses.
“FRA should confine itself to procuring not more than 500,000 tonnes of strategic reserves and it should also concentrate its activities in surplus but economic areas, which are not well serviced by the private sector,”says Mr Kabange.
He calls on Government to announce the quantities it intends to purchase every marketing season not exceeding its mandated 500,000 tonnes for food reserves and stick to their pronouncements, as doing so will encourage effective participation and investment by the private sector.
“We need to aggressively bring on board, the private sector to tap into this immense potential and opportunity that they also participate and lessen the financial burden on FRA, knowing that other sectors in agriculture need Government’s support as well,” says Mr Kabange.
According to the IAPRI Factsheet, Government has spent huge amounts on FISP and FRA leaving very little resources to invest in other productive sectors that would stimulate agricultural growth, which has stifled diversification as maize has remained centric in the Zambian agricultural setting.
FRA and FISP account for almost half of Zambia’s total agricultural budget and more than 97 per cent of Poverty Reduction Programmes.
Despite Government spending huge amounts on FRA, huge losses have been experienced in some marketing seasons such as the 2012/2013 season.
“The storage losses were as high as 32 per cent compared to the private sector losses of two percent to five per cent. However, in years that FRA has bought less maize, there has been a marked decrease and minimal losses incurred such as the 2013/2014 marketing season because the bulk of the stocks were properly stored in indoor,” according to the IAPRI Factsheet.
At least an estimated US$100million was incurred as loss which translated to one million metric tonnes in stock.
There are huge financial losses to the Treasury arising from the costs of purchasing and storing strategic reserves for at least eight months, in addition to carry over stock for the previous season, interest payments and selling the maize at below market price.
IAPRI Outreach Director Ballad Zulu is also of the view that Government expenditure on FISP is huge and is benefiting more the larger farmers, noting that the fact that more funds are spent on maize purchases, discourages crop diversification, the value of horticulture and livestock.
“Funds need to also be spent on exploiting other sectors with potential than the emphasis being on maize alone,” says Mr Zulu.
Furthermore, Mr Zulu says the National Sixth Development Plan, is tailored towards poverty reduction through broad based interventions.
Mr Zulu said despite the bumper harvest, the country has experienced, there has been persistent rural poverty among the community.
“Seventy eight per cent is sold by larger smallholder farmers, and the poor majority that have two hectares,” Mr Zulu said.
He explains that small-scale farmers are producing two tonness per hectare yet they are supposed to produce between five tonnes to eight tonnes per hectare and calls for interventions that will help to address this situation.
Coupled with that, one of the constraints that has hit farmers is the fact that smallholder farmers have been constrained of land and only have access to 25 per cent of land, which is less than 0.5 per cent of land, which translates to minimal production and implies that smallholder farmers sale less while large farmers produce and sale more by venture of their status, which is production at a commercial level.
National Small-Scale farmers Union Director Fidelis Kayula says it is important that Government seriously considers intensifying the diversification process and also support other sectors that can contribute effectively to the productivity of the agriculture sector.
While Agriculture and Livestock Minister Given Lubinda says Government will endeavour to assist farmers through a broad based consultative process, which calls for regular meetings that will set the pace in driving the agricultural agenda in the country.
MrLubinda explained that no farmer exists for their own self, but exist for the nation and that all farmers deserve better quality of life.
He explained that what had come out of the series of consultative meetings with stakeholders, was progressive, noting that, it was clear that the diversification process needs to be intensified although Government has already been making efforts in promoting diversification and hopes the adoption levels will heighten with time.
However, it is Government’s concern that more farmers should seriously consider adopting crop diversification in order to boost the production levels and also utilise the untapped potential, in order to be the breadbasket for Southern Africa and beyond.
Programmes such as FISP can be supported but with an inclusion of other sectors as well, if the country is to maximise its agricultural potential that would translate in a productivity sector so as to contribute to the Gross Domestic Product of the economy. -NAIS