Tue, 23 Jan 2018 13:22:52 +0000
By SANDRA MACHIMA
THE new farming blocs consisting of one million hectares of land created by the Zambian government represent a unique investment opportunity in the agricultural sector, says Agriculture Minister Dora Siliya.
Ms Siliya said the initiative would lead to the creation of new agricultural towns in which agribusiness that consist of value addition, processing, packaging, exports and other logistics will emerge.
“For the first time in the 2017/2018 agricultural season, we have gone 100 percent e-voucher creating an electronic database,” says Ms. Siliya.
The system allows for the allocation of farming inputs to deserving famers electronically and accessed within their areas of operation reducing on paper work that in the past led to delays in the distribution of fertilisers.
“But there are many backward and forward linkages that still need to be created such as ICT applications, ICT platforms linking the farmer to commodity trading, to markets, to price discovery, and to the financial sector such as the financial products available to the farmer,” says the Minister.
Ms Siliya is in Berlin, Germany where she is attending the 10th Global Forum for Food and Agriculture.
She said the farming blocs would also lead to investment in infrastructure that support agriculture such as roads, new housing, schools, energy, hospitals, and police stations among others.
The Minister said there were opportunities especially for young people in which they could partner with government, the farmers, and the banking community and agro dealers in the provision of ICTs and smoothen the interface with the farmer who is at the center of this ecosystem making it as seamless as possible.
Ms Siliya also said in the area of value addition beyond the farm gate, those that could turn Zambian mangoes into mango juice, package Zambian chili for export, Zambian cassava into starch for export, were needed to create jobs in Zambia.
She said President Edgar Chagwa Lungu has undertaken drastic measures to make agriculture a profitable venture and a source of decent employment.
“To this effect, farming inputs can now be delivered on time, farmers paid promptly for their produce, the introduction of irrigation systems to reduce heavy reliance on rain-fed agriculture and the construction of roads to connect farmers to markets,” Ms Siliya said.
