CF PROMISES JOBS, EXPORTS AND GROWTH THROUGH AGRICULTURAL OVERHAUL
Citizens First president Harry Kalaba says Zambia’s agricultural potential remains far from fully realised, despite having more than 42 million hectares of arable land. He notes that less than 15 percent is currently under cultivation, with irrigation still limited, resulting in low national output and weakened food security.
Kalaba argues that ongoing structural challenges continue to hinder farmers, including limited storage facilities and the high cost of supporting programmes such as the Farmer Input Support Programme, which he says has not helped enough farmers transition into commercial production.
He says CF will prioritise agriculture by overhauling FISP to reward performance, ensuring farmers who use the support effectively can access irrigation, machinery and extension services. Kalaba has also announced plans to expand irrigation through a National Irrigation Grid to increase irrigated land from six to 20 percent within ten years.
He says the CF intends to create 12 Agro-Processing Parks along major transport and power corridors to support value addition in high-demand export crops such as avocados, macadamia, citrus, paprika, soya, beef and dairy.
According to Kalaba, these initiatives will be financed through improved mineral revenue management, recovered arrears highlighted by the Auditor General, and private sector partnerships. The party plans to establish a K2 billion Agricultural Transformation Fund to provide affordable financing for farmers.
Kalaba says Zambia can become the region’s leading food supplier, contributing up to 30 percent of GDP and creating hundreds of thousands of jobs with the right leadership.
As a president you don’t have a farm you are talking about improving Agriculture when you don’t understand the area of 1ha