APPEAL FROM FARMING COMMUNITIES TO HICHILEMA
I got this message from a farmer friend who has requested me to lobby on their behalf for some respite on load shedding.
Mr Hichilema, you have come up with good initiatives for farmers to enhance irrigation farming. This is excellent, and we are ready to take up the challenge.
However, Mr Hichilema, if we are being load shedded for 18 to 20 hours daily, just how are we going to access water and pump it into our storage facilities to actualise your irrigation farming dream. It takes between 6-12 hours to pump water into our storage facilities, which we cannot do given this unbearable load shedding.
Yes, Mr Hichilema, you have talked about investing in solar as an alternative source of power. But let’s be realistic.
Here is a farmer who has lost nearly all his crop harvest due to the drought. He now needs to buy irrigation equipment and invest in solar energy. In the real world, where will such a farmer find the capital to do all these things. Where are concession credit facilities for farmers, given that we cannot afford the prevailing high commercial lending rates?
Your government has a policy of only accessing concession loans because commercial loans are too expensive. The same applies to us at the individual level, but have you provided such facilities? I am not talking about Micky Mouse Mtolo credit window where you give K30,000 loans. I need K15 to K20 million for serious farming investment
Mr Hichilema, your spoken ideas are great, and I guess that’s why you qualify for many more honorary PhDs, but they seriously lack practicality. VERY IMPORTANT!
I wished the real world was as simple as you dream. Net metering, does Zesco have the capability to lift small amounts of power onto their grid when it takes 12/24 months just to connect power for new simple applications?
For now, I pray and urge you to minimise talking too much because the more you talk, the more people are getting angry. Words like “simple”and “very important” are piercing our hearts because we are presently suffering badly on a daily basis, and you sound like you are mocking us.
Look at your Zesco tarrifs! Even if we had power for irrigation, we have to pay huge Zesco bills as if having no power is not enough.
Learn to be practical and stop belittling us. We are not interested in 2026 but improving the quality of our lives right now. Do something.
Happy Sunday to all!
If only your spoken words matched practality!
Fred M’membe
President of the Socialist Party