FISP targets 1 million emerging farmers

Agriculture Minister Michael Katambo has disclosed that this year’s target for beneficiaries of the Farmer Input Support Programme – FISP has been maintained at one million.

Zambia’s maize production is dominated by local emerging farmers who account for more than 90% of the total annual production. The country recorded a Maize bumper harvest of about 3.4 million tons which was about 69% growth in production from the previous season.

The Agro Minister stated that the ministry has this time earnestly started activating the programme by picking on direct input suppliers and registering of agro-dealers through the E-Voucher System and the Direct Input Supply.

Katambo told the Zambian Business Times – ZBT in an exclusive interview that the ministry has maintained the one million target for small scale farmers which was set last year adding that the date of accessing these inputs will be communicated soon.

He said the ministry is already ahead of schedule as about 80% of fertilizer is available within the country hence the Food Reserve Agency – FRA will soon will move on the market to ensure farmers start selling their commodities.

Katambo further said that the K400 still stands for contributions from farmers who want to access the inputs for this year’s season and that the ministry has already contracted suppliers who are currently delivering inputs in designated areas across the country.

“The suppliers that the ministry has contracted are already delivering these inputs and we are also working to see at what stage these inputs will be distributed to help in achieving meaningful development in rural areas,” He said

The minister has since encouraged farmers to sell their produce to the Food Reserve Agency – FRA where they are guaranteed of good prices and not to traders commonly called ‘briefcase businessmen’ who are offering lower than FRA prices.

The Agro minister further urged farmers to only sell what is surplus to them and safeguard household food security. There is no need to sell everything and even fail to secure one’s household food security. Moreover, FRA has offered to buy upto 1 million tons of maize for this farming season which should encourage farmers to sell at better prices.

Agriculture Minister Michael Katambo has disclosed that

Soya beans delivers more income than maize

There is no better love story in Zambia than the maize and farmer relationship. Even though climatic and weather conditions can enable farmers to grow other high income crops like soya beans, tobacco, wheat, cotton etc, most local farmers still prefer to grow maize.

Export Trading Group – ETG has urged emerging farmers to consider diversifying into other agro crops to earn more income as well as cut down on mono cropping and over dependence of maize.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with the Zambian Business Times – ZBT, ETG Sales Manager Siankoni Zulu stated that farmers need to look at other crops like soya beans instead of being over-reliant on maize.

“At the moment the yield potential of maize is standing at 1.5 to 2 metric tons per hectare compared to soya beans which has a yield potential of about 3 to 4 metric tons per hectare. Definitely if someone invests into Soya beans for instance, they will earn more income than if they invested in Maize for the same piece or size of land. Of cause we are not saying people should stop growing maize, but we are saying diversification is needed”, he said.

Zulu emphasized that although maize is important for our livelyhood as nshima is our staple food, emerging farmers need to look at other crops that yield better returns and more profit.

Let’s compare two crops like maize and soya beans. The tons per hectacre that our farmers are getting from maize is quite low when compared to what these other crops are yielding at the end of a farming season.

Furthermore, he stated that even when you look at the Food Reserve Agency buying prices, a 50kg bag of soya beans has been pegged at K150 compared to a 50 kg bag of maize which has been pegged is at K110.

If you further consider the utilization and cost of fertilizer, one will find that soya beans will on an overall basis deliver much bigger margins than the normal Maize crop production.

He further stressed that there is need to change our mindset in order to see alternative crops like soya beans as crops that can also deliver higher returns and profit. He pointed out that the main cause may be the lack of readily available information and real life examples to the farmers because they won’t easily divert to growing other crops easily.

“A farmer who has been mono cropping won’t accept such advice easily, if there is no emphasizing and demonstrating on how alternative crops can deliver better returns for them to see the difference, it’s difficult for them to invest in alternative crops. And if someone is to investing, definitely they need to see practical examples and results”, he said

Zambia is divided into three Agro-ecological zones and some regions receive more rainfall than others. People need to be aware of these economic zones so that they know which crop to grow. This also applied to crop varieties which may differ from region to region.

We appreciate what the Ministry of Agriculture is doing. But there is much more that is needed to be done. That is why we try as much as possible to help by giving small scale farmers and the people at large fre information. At the moment, ETG has 42 offices across the country and partnerships to help with information sharing.

There is no better love story in

Cassava crop farming takes new turn

Cassava cropping has taken a new turn in Zambia following the industrial use of the crop in the copper manufacturing process as well as the industrial use in ethanol manufacturing that has further added to the traditional demand as a food crop

Zambia National Farmers Union – ZNFU Vice President Joseph Mungandi told the Zambian Business Times – ZBT in an exclusive interview that one good example of where cassava has taken root as a commercial crop is Kaoma in western province.

Mungandi said Kaoma district now has about 1,800 hectors of cassava fields and each hectare is producing approximately 340 bags of cassava. Farmers in Kaoma are growing a lot of cassava and farmers in the district are very interested in the new usage of cassava.

“In the recent past Cassava farmers were sub-contracted with Premiercon Starch Company limited of Kalumbila to supply starch, the said company supplied the starch to the Mines for use in the purification of copper at Kalumbila and Lumwana Mines. They also supplied alcohol brewers and the largest quantity that was supplied of 42,000 metric tonnes was supplied to the said company,” Mungandi said.

He further told ZBT that the union has been running an out-grower’s scheme on cassava in Kaoma district. Four years ago, cassava cuttings distribution was made bringing on board about 350 beneficiaries and each farmer was given half an hectare which equates to 50 x 100 meters and the agreement was that after two years the beneficiaries would give back the cuttings and another 350 farmers would benefit from the scheme and since then there has been an increase in the number of cassava farmers to-date.

He concluded by saying the new expanded discovery of the uses of cassava in Zambia to make alcohol based hand sanitizer has been warmly welcomed by cassava farmers in Kaoma district as it will further increase the market value of the crop.

“It is a very good that the industrial use of cassava has been discovered in Zambia and because the Covid-19 pandemic, Cassava production now can save the country some foreign exchange as hand sanitizers which were previously imported can now be locally produced,” Mungandi added.

Cassava in Zambia is said to be the second most economically important harvest crop as a food crop after the staple national crop, Maize. The crop is widely grown in Luapula, Northern, North-Western and Western provinces although it is also grown in other parts of the country.

In the past cassava was produced in Zambia only by small-scale farmers but in recent years, cassava farming industry and cultivation of the crop has been growing in the sense that there is quite a good number of cassava farmers producing large quantities of the crop in the country.

Cassava cropping has taken a new turn

Amendment of outdated legislation to revamp tobacco industry

Tobacco, a cash crop which sees about 90% of all its production volumes exported has potential to further grow and deliver over half a billion dollars (over US$500 million) in foreign exchange earnings for Zambia per annum once the bottlenecks are cleared out.

The Tobacco Board of Zambia – TBZ Chief Executive Officer James Kasongo told the Zambian Business Times – ZBT in an exclusive interview that to ensure the industry reaches its potential, there is need to urgently amend the outdated legislation.

He told ZBT that once legislation is updated, the industry will be empowered to attract more buyers into Zambia, streamline finance for small and medium scale farmers with favorable interest rates as well as enable the use of multiple business models.

Zambia has in the past years recorded a decline in production of tobacco with this year’s output forecasted to reduce. Burley tobacco is forecasted to reduce by 58% to 3,861 metric tonnes, down from 12,839 tons, while Virginia tobacco has been forecast to decline by 7% to 11,955 metric tonnes, down from 12,8839 produced in the last season.

Kasongo told ZBT that the other factor leading to low production of tobacco include limited number of buyers on the market which is mostly attributed to the legislative challenges. “Zambia currently has only about 3 key tobacco buyers which include Japan Tobacco International- JTI, Tombwe Processing Limited and Alliance one. The country can attract many more players to provide better prices and alternatives to farmers.

He added that tobacco being a specialized crop, it has specialized buyers who look for a particular quality and quantity based on international standards and contracts, hence buyers determine the offtake and farmers can only grow up to the volumes projected and demanded. These off-take volumes for Zambia can be increased once the legislative challenges are attended to.

TBZ further stated that the lack of financing for local small and medium size farmers in the tobacco industry can largely be attributed to outdated legislation which does not provide investment protection for out-growers and major off-takers. This has severely contributed to low production despite the crop being a key export commodity and contributing to the country’s treasury.

“About 90% of tobacco grown in Zambia is exported basically to China and and other countries. Tobacco crop is about 14 times more profitable than cotton and about 7 times more profitable than maize per acre. So, it’s a crop that gives much more returns from the same piece of land.

And in terms of its contribution to the GDP, in 2013 it contributed about 3% but currently we are contributing about 1% and it’s an indication that the industry is not doing well,” He said. If you look at production volumes and foreign exchange generated from tobacco in Malawi and Zimbabwe, you can see that the potential is enormous for Zambia.

He lamented one of the most important factors which urgently needs to be addressed is the need to have a conducive legal framework which will fully meet the business aspirations of the industry as the current Tobacco Act Cap 237 was last reviewed in 1968 hence the business model on how people operate within the industry has completely changed.

The board has since advocated for the updating of the legal framework which if well formulated and implemented will attract more investors and buyers on the Zambia market, help establish a robust auction system, aid investment protection by eliminating vices such as tobacco vending as well as avail the key tobacco players source financing to fund extensive out-grower schemes.

Meanwhile, Agriculture Minister Micheal Katambo had on May 27, 2020 announced that in order to revamp the production of Tobacco as a key export commodity, Cabinet has already authorized his Ministry to begin the process of reviewing tobacco legislation in collaboration with all stakeholders and proceed with amendment and updating of the legislation.

Katambo stated that Government has noted the continued decline in tobacco production which is unfortunate as it translates in a loss in foreign exchange earnings, and the reasons cited for the poor performance in the tobacco industry is outdated legislation hence, he pledged that his ministry will proceed with amendment of the relevant legislation to stimulate the growth and re-energize the tobacco industry.

Tobacco, a cash crop which sees about