(TIMES) ‘I would rather you bought tractors’
‘I would rather you bought tractors’By Andrew Lungu in Vubwi, Chadiza
PRESIDENT Mwanawasa has observed that he would have been much happier if some chiefs had opted to get tractors for farming rather than vehicles. He said chiefs could have used tractors for farming as well as hire them out to their subjects to increase food production in their areas. Dr Mwanawasa made the observation when he called on chiefs Mwangala, Mlolo, Zingalume and Pembamoyo at the Vubwi high school in Chadiza district yesterday.
The president also advised the chiefs to take good care of the vehicles they had acquired through the loans from the Government, and was happy that the traditional rulers had obtained vehicles of their choice. He assured the four traditional leaders that the Government was doing everything possible to find a suitable provider of mobile telecommunication services in the area.
Currently, Vubwi constituency in Chadiza has no access to any of the Zambian mobile providers and people use the Malawian mobile network. The president, who was accompanied by Communications and Transport Minister, Dora Siliya, Home Affairs Minister, Ronnie Shikapwasha and other senior Government officials, instructed Ms Siliya to look closely into the issue raised by the chiefs.
Dr Mwanawasa said he had taken into consideration all the issues the chiefs had raised to him during the meetings, particularly the issue of subdividing Vubwi constituency into two constituencies. The president said the move by Vubwi residents to have their constituency divided into two showed that people wanted to fully exercise their democratic rights. However, the president said having multiple constituencies alone was not enough but people should be productive in these areas.
And Lieutenant-General Shikapwasha assured the four Chewa chiefs in Vubwi, Chadiza district, that the Government was taking the problems of land encroachment by both Malawians and Mozambicans seriously. Gen Shikapwasha said a permanent joint commission comprising senior government officials from the three neighbouring countries had been meeting to address the issue of land encroachment on the common border.
“We have been having meetings with officials from the three countries in order to put some pegs on the international boundaries bordering the three countries,” Gen Shikapwasha said.
Labels: BORDERS, CHIEFS, ITC, MALAWI, MWANAWASA, TRACTORISATION
posted by MrK @ 6:32 PM
1 Comments:
I wish President Mwanawasa and his ministers would follow up with a holistic approach to agricultural reform, tractorisation and land reform.
With world food prices going up (and most likely for a long time too, because of increased income in China and India, as well as increased demand for biofuels), Zambia should see this as an opportunity, on the level of the world record prices of commodities like copper.
Only 3% of arable land is under irrigation. 80% (or 60%, depending on who you ask) of arable land is not under cultivation. There is high unemployment and poverty is no more severe than in the rural areas, where most people live.
Take all that together, what may seem like an unsurmountable collection of problems, actually is the greatest opportunity that Zambia has.
A comprehensive agrarian reform programme that will see hundreds of thousands of people farm on a commercial basis is the way forward for the economy, the people and the country.
Get every farmer 100 hectares and machinery and prepare the land to make use of Zambia's ample rainfall (most of which now ends up in some of the biggest rivers of Africa) and you have an agricultural paradise, where everyone can be not only fed, but has money left to form markets for (preferrably Zambian produced) consumer goods and services.
One hectare of watered land can easily produce 2 tonnes or more of maize per hectare. Right now, maize sells for $200,- per tonne - that is $400 per hectare. That is more than the average yearly income. Give someone 50 hectares, and they can easily harvest $20,000 worth of maize per year.
That would make a huge difference in incomes, it would eliminate poverty, it would eliminate hunger, it would eliminate flooding (by improving the hydrology of ordinary farmland), and it would create a springboard for manufacturing through the packaging and working of agricultural surpluses.
How about Zambian bourbon, made from surpluses of maize? How about cereal, bread, syrup, sugar made from maize?
Also, because every farmer has 100 hectares, he has plenty of land left for enterprises that require less land, like dairy farming, horticulture, tree farms (one 15 old log can bring in $20,000 at current prices).
Get the hydrology right and Zambia has a potential for year-around agriculture. Make sure farmers can easily get their goods to market and get the market price (and aren't beholden to 'middle men', but can get the prevailing market price) and Zambia can produce food for the world. And bring it's people up economically at the same time.
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