Wed, 26 Apr 2017 11:35:05 +0000
By AARON CHIYANZO
THE Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has given Zambia and three other countries US$7 million support for climate change mitigation and adaptation, Minister of Agriculture Dora Siliya has said.
Ms Siliya, who is in Italy to attend a FAO meeting, said in an interview with the Daily Nation that she had a fruitful meeting with the FAO director general Jose Graziano da Silva.
The minister disclosed that the FAO had given Zambia, Vietnam and Malawi US$7million each support for climate change mitigation and adaptation.
“Yesterday, I met with FAO director general alongside the FAO council of ministers meeting. I thanked the FAO for the US$ 7 million support for climate change mitigation and adaptation given to only three countries in Africa,” she said.
Ms Siliya said that among the other issues they discussed was the need for food security to include nutrition and for Zambia to expand its food basket beyond maize.
Ms Siliya said Zambia had spent about US$400,000 to fight the locusts against a budget of US$1 million. She said the red locusts were breeding in Itezhi Tezhi district of the Central Province.
Ms Siliya also informed the specialists that a regional effort was required to exterminate the locusts before June when they were expected to be fully grown.
According to the minister, the FAO officers recommended Zambia’s initial steps in surveying over 5,000 hectares of land. They agreed that unless regional steps were taken, the locusts threatened food security in Southern and Eastern Africa
It was also agreed that the regional FAO office would work closely with Zambia and SADC member states on technical support to fight the red locusts.
