TOMATO PRICES DROP TO K20 A BOX, FARMERS BLAME GOVERNMENT
By Prudence Chota
Some farmers in Lusaka have blamed the Zambian government for the drop in tomato prices saying imported tomatoes from Tanzania have flooded Kasumbalesa market thereby distorting the market price.
In an interview with Diamond News, a farmer who sought anonymity says the government has failed to secure the Nakonde border post, leading to the easy transportation of the commodity from Tanzania to Kasumbalesa where it is being sold at a very cheap price.
He says the failure by the government to control the borders has caused a lot of misery to the local farmers who spend huge sums of money to grow tomatoes despite the hard weather conditions.
Meanwhile, a check by Diamond News at Soweto Market in Lusaka found that tomato prices have dropped to as low as K20 per box.
Credited by Diamond TV Zambia
That is how it will be even with maize and mealie meal, the more the commodity is abundant on the market, the cheaper it is and the more the commodity is scarce on the market, the more expensive it is. This is how forces of supply and demand work in economics. There are no two ways about it. If only people worked hard and produced abundant food for the nation and themselves, this outcry of high cost of living will be the thing of the past. Had it not been the drought the previous season, Zambians could have experienced the same with maize or mealie meal. So Zambians should learn to work hard and complain less, the solution to the high cost of living is in their hands. Suppliers only take their goods where there is demand, that’s why Tanzanias and Zambians take to Kasumbalesa because of the demand in Congo DR. No one would dream of taking tomatoes to John Chinena where they are in abundance, who will buy them? So the government is on course by empowering farmers to grow more food and the high cost of living will be lowered and the standard of living improved. Don’t allow yourselves to be detracted by cheap politicking which brings no solutions. There is no government in this world which gives free food to its citizens, people have to grow their own food. God said we should sweat and produce our own food if we have to eat. He just dropped manna when the Israelites were still in the wilderness but immediately they reached the good arable land, he stopped. I can assure you, if we shall have enough rainfall next season, mealie meal will reach even at K40, are we not the people who are still expecting ka saka unga ka K50? We are crying everyday and yet we have the solution in our hands, HH has the vision and we the people have to realize it. The Bible says if we say that we have no sin, then we make God a liar, but does not and cannot lie. In the same manner, if we fail to work hard and produce enough food, then we make him a liar and that is why the haters are accusing him of having lied to Zambians when he did not. Those who are encouraging laziness are the ones who are lying. How can the food be cheap when you don’t even produce it? Those who read and understand the Bible very well know that promises do not start with HH, they start with God. God promised the Israelites the land which flows with milk and honey but when they reached Canaan, they didn’t find free milk there just flowing like rivers, no. God just gave them land with good pastures where their animals could graze and give them abundant milk. Good trees for bees and good land for producing abundant food. I can go on writing but the flooding of Kasumbalesa market with tomatoes just vindicates our President that his vision is still alive, with more food produced, one day mealie meal will indeed be at K50 or less.
Citizen, izachoka kuti mvula in the next two farming seasons
Masiku onse imachokela kuti nvula ba Musonda, si ku mwamba?