By AARON CHIYANZO and KETRA KALUNGA in Kabwe
IMPORTS of potatoes and onions to stop soon owing to the rapid increase in local production of the crops, President Edgar Lungu has said.
President Lungu also called for more investments in drying equipment for onions and storage facilities for the potatoes.
He said the lack of adequate drying equipment and storage facilities for onions and potatoes respectively was making production of the crops drag a little.
The President said this at Tara Farms in Kabwe yesterday when he undertook a fact finding mission for potatoes and onions production.
He expressed happiness that Zambian farmers had embraced the diversification agenda from maize which had been the traditional crop and that production in most crops had increased exponentially.
President Lungu said farmers had the capacity to satisfy the local demand, saying that imports of potatoes and onions would soon stop.
“With regards to the production of irish potatoes, I am happy to announce that local production has increased from 27,562 metric tonnes in 2011, to 62,358 metric tonnes in2021, and comparatively this represents an increase of 126 percent.
Similarly, the production of soya beans has also performed extremely well and has increased from 116,539 metric tonnes in 2011 to a record high of 411,115 metric tonnes achieved in 2021.This comparatively represents an increase of 252 percent. The statistics are a clear indication that the pf government’s agriculture agenda and policies have received widespread support in all corners of our country,” he said.
President Lungu said farmers had the capacity to satisfy the local demand, saying that imports of potatoes and onions would soon stop.
President Lungu said production had rapidly increased in the country because the PF government had held the interests of farmers at high esteem and protecting their interests.
He assured The Zambia National Farmers’ Union (ZNFU) and all stakeholders in the agricultural sector, that government would continue to aggressively address all challenges affecting farmers and the agriculture sector in general.
And ZNFU president, Jervis Zimba said all imports of agricultural produces which were being adequately grown in the country should stop.
Mr Zimba said countries such as South Africa do not allow produces coming from Zambia because they were promoting their own.
He also called on Zambians to start consuming locally grown foods and farmers to increase production.
He urged farmers to invest in equipment such as dryers.
Mr Zimba also called on government to zero rate imports of dryers so that onion production could increase further.
Meanwhile, Tara Farms manager, Doug Thompson said farmers were ready to scale up production and thanked for good agriculture policies enabling production of most crops to increase.
And speaking during the fields tour, Baya Bamba managing director, Anthony Barker said for the first time this year, the country had not imported potatoes commercial seed for planting because it had enough seed being produced in Mbala district in Muchinga province.
He said only about five percent of seed was imported while the rest was covering about 1 500 hectors of potato production is local seed.
“For the first time ever we have not imported any commercial seed for planting which is a great success story,” he said.
Mr. Parker also disclosed that commercial potato farmers in the country have been given biddies rights from Europe.
He commended government for the policies put in place to which have enabled farmers come up with long term investments.
He said as farmers they are grateful to the current government for its political will in protecting local farmers.
Mr Barker said as farmers they are certain that with the good policies in place, the agriculture sector in the country would thrive.
“The facts that you are here today shows a lot of comfort for us as Buya Bamba to see that you are supporting what we are doing,” said.
