Czechs give Zambia 1.2m euros for agri support

Fri, 28 Apr 2017 09:43:17 +0000

By Bennie Mundando

THE Czech Republic has approved 1.2 million euros assistance to Zambia for agriculture support towards training and information dissemination to improve knowledge among farmers and other food producers to foster technical know-how, Czech Republic Minister of Agriculture Marian Jurecka has revealed.

And President Edgar Lungu says Zambia has the capability to produce about 10, 000 metric tonnes of maize with departure from the traditional way of farming to a mechanised system that would enhance productivity.

Speaking when he paid a courtesy call on President Lungu at State House yesterday, Mr. Jurecka said the financial assistance from his country to Zambia stemmed from a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between the two countries some time back.

He said his country would also initiate a study visit for stakeholders from Zambia to travel to Czech Republic on a cost sharing basis in order to share knowledge in the agriculture sector in order to actualise cooperation in various sectors of the economy between the two countries.

He said his ministry would also lobby for more financing for other needy sectors such as fisheries and energy, adding that his country had opened an embassy in Zambia in order to enhance bilateral ties.

“We signed an MoU on agriculture some time back but from last month, things have started moving. We have approved 1.2 million euros for support in training and dissemination of knowledge to farmers and other food producers and we are negotiating for more cooperation in enhancing the technical know-how in the sector.

“We are also offering a study visit for our Zambian counterparts and stakeholders to Czech Republic on a cost-sharing basis for knowledge sharing with you,” Mr. Jurecka told President Lungu.

He said that eight Czech companies were participating in this year’s Agric Expo which will officially open today, with most of the equipment having been bought already.

And President Lungu says Zambia has the capability to produce about 10,000 metric tonnes of maize by adopting farming mechanisation to enhance productivity.

“Mechanisation in the agriculture sector is the only way that will help small scale farmers to work effectively and produce more. Right now, we are producing around 3.5 million tonnes of maize using a traditional way of farming but if our farmers embraced mechanisation in agriculture, we would produce up to 10,000 metric tonnes of maize,” President Lungu said.

Meanwhile, State House has rubbished reports from Zambian Reports suggesting that it had castigated Catholic bishops over their statement on the state of affairs in Zambia.

Special assistant to the President for press and public relations Amos Chanda branded the reports as false, malicious, and reckless and has asked the online media to immediately pull down the publication as at no time did State House issue such a statement.

Mr. Chanda said much as State House disagreed with some of the salient issues espoused by the Catholic bishops, it had a lot of respect for the church leaders and that President Lungu himself was ready to dialogue with them and other members of the clergy over the issues they had raised.