Pemba MP explains Zambia’s food deficits
Pemba MP explains Zambia’s food deficitsBy Sututu Katundu
Wed 10 Feb. 2010, 10:50 CAT
PEMBA UPND member of parliament David Matongo has said the difficulty with implementing the agriculture policy from theory is precisely the reason the country still has a food deficit.
Matongo said apart from the weather patterns, the marketing, pricing of agricultural produce and delivery of farming inputs had made parts of the country unproductive as far as food security was concerned.
“How do you deliver seed and fertiliser in the middle of November?” Matongo asked when he featured on Joy FM’s The People That Matter programme last week.
He said previously there were depots in the rural areas where fertiliser, seed and other inputs could be picked from and once the maize was ready, payments were made at those same spots.
However, he said the MMD government introduced a promissory note through the current marketing system.
Matongo observed that the cordon line between Angola and Zambia had been broken and animal diseases were spreading back and forth.
He said there had never been a serious attempt to eradicate cattle diseases particularly in the southern parts of Western Province and the diseases had spread to other parts.
Matongo wondered why the government could not plan ahead to curb hunger since the country was not food secure and a lot of money was usually spent on procuring food in times of a deficit.
“How come we have popularised situations like relief food to people who never liked relief food?” he asked.
He urged the government to deal with cattle diseases effectively. Matongo said the government had been paying lip service to food security, cattle diseases control, marketing of animals and agriculture products.
And Matongo said the decentralisation programme had not been properly implemented.
He wondered why monies allocated in Lusaka for Mazabuka should first be taken to Livingstone before they could finally reach the area.
“What happens to permanent secretaries who are highly graded? Why appoint district commissioners if they are not able to handle money at that level? If you put party cadres as permanent secretaries what would you expect at the expense of well-trained civil servants? The directors will simply undermine them and this is what is happening now,” Matongo said.
He advised leaders to respect those with opposing views and be open to discussion.
He said the Constitution was just a piece of paper that guided the country in terms of governance but leaders should have the will to lead their people.
Matongo said the Constitution was not a catalyst for economic development, saying the country could have the best Constitution in the world but it could be rendered worthless if they spent more than they earned.
He hoped the new constitution could help limit certain excesses of politicians and that the people given responsibility should be true to the provision of service to Zambians.
“Their faith in that is what I believe can pull us through out of hunger and lack of shelter, lack of decent drinking water and a small effective government in a decentralised fashion where the man in Kaputa, the man in Choma, the people elsewhere will see the budgetary value of government revenue and expenditure at base,” he said.
And Matongo said the UPND/PF pact would provide alternatives to better the lives of Zambians because the period between 1991 to 2001 was a lost decade, which would take time to recover.
Labels: AGRICULTURE, CATTLE DISEASE, DAVID MATONGO, FOOD, HUNGER, JOY FM
posted by MrK @ 1:03 PM
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