President Hakainde Hichilema Must Visit these Farmers Stranded in Choma
Amb. Emmanuel Mwamba wrote;
President Hakainde Hichilema has been in Choma since last year!
We saw him venture out to the Daniel Munkombwe Toll Plaza and later hold a public rally at Choma Sports Grounds on 5th January 2026.
Since he is still in Choma, he probably should take a drive into Choma town and check on these stranded farmers.
Because what is happening in Choma is a reflection of what’s happening across the country.
Farmers being paid in January 2025? Why?
It’s deep in farming season and farmers remain unpaid.
How do the farmers prepare the fields, buy seeds and fertilser? How do they manage to weed and buy pesticides in some cases?
Government claims that the Farmers remain unpaid because it budgeted for only the 500,000 metric tonnes, which constitutes the National Strategic Reserves.
For the 2025 marketing season, farmers supplied a surplus of over 1.6 million metric tonnes of maize to the Food Reserve Agency (FRA).
But let us be clear, since 2011, the FRA has always bought from the farmers an average of one (1) million metric tonnes.
Besides, the 500,000 metric tonnes was set as the National Strategic Reserves in 1995 and clearly, is no longer the national strategic reserve amount.
A country needs to store maize, being a staple food, totalling a minimum one year supply in the event that the next farming season fails due to floods or droughts.
Zambia now consumes about 200,000 metric tonnes per month (both animal and human consumption).
In effect the National Strategic Reserve must be pegged at 2.4 million metric tonnes.
This is what motivated the Patriotic Front to embark on storing maize from two seasons.
When the UPND found 1.5 million metric tonnes in the National Strategic Reserves in 2021 and a new harvest of 2.4million metric tonnes on the way, they embarked on an export spree and decided to sell the entire stock, ( both new harvest and national strategic reserve) on the pretext that they needed to pay the farmers!
So Mr. President, leave the farm and explore into Choma town to establish what’s causing the delay in payments as the farmers are sleeping in the cold and in the rain.
Ba Munachusa from Tanzania has found a topic for discussion. The government has provided clarification on this matter. They are operating within the budget, and any surplus acquired will be compensated in an organized manner. Farmers are aware of this situation.