Hichilema And His Govt’s Contradictions On Maize- Fred M’membe

HICHILEMA AND HIS GOVT’S CONTRADICTIONS ON MAIZE

Listening to what the Minister of Commerce was saying on Diamond TV’s Costa show triggered a thought on my mind. It revealed very serious contradictions about Mr Hakainde Hichilema and his government’s pronouncements on maize.

So government is saying 95% of the maize is produced by peasant farmers who either use hoe or ox driven methods! He also alluded that the high maize price will motivate farmers to grow more maize.

So one expects that if farmers are going to grow more maize then it follows that they will need more inputs like fertilizer than the previous season.

Consequently, one expects that FSIP as an example in terms of fertilizers to be used this coming season will be more than the previous season.

At the same time we have observed that the FSIP support to farmers is the same as in the previous farming season.

So there is a lot of contradictions here. If we expect more production, we expect increased consumption of inputs and increased number of fertilizer to recipients of FSIP. But the number of FSIP recipients has reduced and the fertilizer supply has remained the same, be it 6 or 8 bags. So where will the additional production come from?

Are we expecting new entrants who will provide their own inputs at their own cost? Are we expecting increased participation by commercial farmers whilst at the same time government is saying 95% of maize production is by peasant farmers?

Or we will end up with same or less production and blame it on El Nino as part of the Mingalato

Only time will tell!

Out of interest, we wish to know how much of our total maize production comes from FSIP recipients? How much does FSIP cost government? How much hectares of land is utilized by FSIP recipients? By government answering these questions we will be able to measure the productive efficiency of FSIP.

Fred M’membe
President of the Socialist Party