Many people in Chipata have said Eastern Province should brace itself for hunger and food shortages this year because of the Patrotic Front (PF) government poor policies on agriculture.
During several interviews with a number of citizens in Chipata, the people spoken to said the removal of subsidies on maize would affect crop yields in the region, further pushing up food prices amid dwindling supply.
The interviewees also said they believed that the ruling Patriotic Front (PF) party had no plan to protect local farmers from harsh conditions, in particular, cotton farmers who were being exploited by ginning companies.
“The problem is that we have PF members from here who have gone into big government positions with basic knowledge of how to run a government. We have government officials who have no plan on agriculture and this is the beginning of our problem because there is good policy on agriculture. We must prepare for hunger and the shortage of food because the farming season was mismanaged last year and so there will be no food,” a peasant farmer Gideon Mwase said.
He said many government leaders were speaking so well about how good the PF government had performed and implemented good policies for the people, but there was nothing on the ground to substantiate their speeches.
Another farmer Gladys Mwale said farmers had received the message on the removal of subsidies on maize, but they were yet to be told what the government would be doing to ensure there was increased maize production and food security.
She said farmers were being encouraged to diversify their agriculture to other food crops and cash crops but the market for these crops was not guaranteed.
“We had farmers who tried to move away from maze, but they would be going without food because of their focus on money crops. What we need are good plans to encourage people to produce more food and not necessarily cash crops. The price for cotton keeps fluctuating and as farmers we cannot rely on that,” she said.
Mwale said farmers had recorded poor harvests since the PF came to power and the government leaders had not shown any indicators that they had a good plan for developing agriculture in eastern province and Zambia at large.
She said politicians in the PF government were not working for the people because it had become clear that they were only interested in personal benefits at the expense of people who voted for them.
Mwale said agriculture must be the primary focus of the government in eastern province because that sector was the people’s mainstay and source of food for the majority.
And a youth Mathews Phiri said the hopes the young people had in the PF administration had been lost after failing to develop agriculture. Phiri said many youths had focused on agriculture for survival because of widespread joblessness, but their aspirations were now in jeopardy going by the way the government was handling matters in the sector.
“There are no jobs for many youths who have been the colleges. We thought agriculture is going to help since there is nothing to do, but things like the removal of subsidies and unstable prices for cotton will make it difficult for young people to survive and to produce food for sale,” he said.
Phiri said the government must put in place good measures that should encourage small scale farmers to produce food and also allow them to earn an income.
The post Eastern Province Worried over Upcoming Food Shortages appeared first on Zambia Reports.