ZAMBIA: AGRIC LOANS COMING

THE Government will facilitate the
introduction of agro loans for
farm mechanisation to improve
the farm yields in the country,
Agriculture and Livestock
Minister Robert Sichinga has said.
Mr Sichinga said Government
was in the process of
repositioning the agricultural
sector to improve productivity.
He said during the Zambia
National Farmers Union (ZNFU)
annual gala on Tuesday night
that the Government wanted
farmers to improve yields from
the current 1.8 tonnes to seven
tonnes per hectare.
Government had engaged
commercial banks and
organisations dealing with
farming implements to give
small-scale farmers (SSF) loans to
enhance productivity.
Mr Sichinga said farming was a
business and, hence the need to
reposition it for the farmers to
get value for their produce.
"We realise as Government that
farming is a business and that is
why we want to reposition the
agricultural sector, so that SSF
can get value for their produce,"
he said.
Mr Sichinga said farmers had
continued to record low yields in
the country compared to other
countries like Malawi and
Zimbabwe whose yields were
between seven and eight tonnes
per hectare.
He said the recapitalisation of the
Nitrogen Chemicals of Zambia
(NCZ) would increase access to
affordable inputs, adding that
NCZ had by Saturday last week
completed the Farmer Input
Support Programme (FISP)
consignment.
More than 60,000 tonnes of the
commodity had been delivered to
the districts.
At the same occasion, ZNFU first
past president Graham Rae
urged the farmers to network in
an effort to improve the yields.
Mr Rae urged Government to
work towards reducing the cost
of input production so that it
could compete on the regional
and international markets.
ZNFU, in partnership with the
Nation Savings and Credit Bank
(NATSAVE), launched Bunjimi
Asset Plus loan which saw a
Mumbwa SSF scooping the first
tractor worth K124,000.
In the partnership, ZNFU is
expected to provide 50 per cent,
while the rest would be provided
by NATSAVE.