Agriculture needs good policies – Mtolo

We need to recognize that meeting the growing demand for food will necessitate increasing food production volumes, Minister of Agriculture Rueben Phiri Mtolo has said.

Speaking to The Scoop, Mr. Mtolo said the agriculture sector must be backed by good policies of exporting the excess so that farmers could get value for their products through a readily-available market while the country benefited through foreign exchange.

He said his ministry had adopted an agriculture policy which was simple to understand for all farmers including those in the outskirts of the country.

“Zambia must produce more to export more because we are poised to produce more food through the farm block initiative adopted by the New Dawn Government which will see a million hectares of land being utilised.

“We have adopted an agriculture policy which is very simple to understand. Zambia is zoned in 10 provinces and what we have done is that we have identified virgin land which we have carefully selected with good soils and water. We have adopted 100 thousand hectares in each province and we are looking at an immediate productivity of a million hectares,” Mr. Mtolo said.

He said there was a need for increased coordination to increase agricultural productivity through innovative technology and sustainable practices.

“It would not make any sense that only a small portion of land is being utilized out of the 75 million hectares of land by about 20 million people hence the decision by the Government to zone the country into 10 farm blocks in each province to enhance productivity.

“It is therefore important to note that climate change adaptation and mitigation, as well as sustainable agricultural productivity development, are intrinsically linked to food and nutrition security hence the crucial role that innovation will play in addressing these challenges in the future,” he said.

He added that whatever was to be produced had to be married with good policies laid by the Government of allowing exports.

“We opened up our corners and we are not going to close them for exports because if you produce and you only have 20 million people, who will consume the surplus that you produce? So, we have to open our borders for exports,” he said.

He said this was only going to be achieved by utilizing technology to enhance productivity. He emphasized that pursuing these goals necessitated critical thinking to achieve sustainable production practices that did not harm the environment. 

“We can only achieve this when we utilize technology to enhance productivity and as the Government, our aim is to double the yields of small-scale farmers.

“Therefore, to increase food production while reducing its negative effects on the environment, there is a need to use innovation and encourage sustainable agricultural practices, particularly among small-scale farmers,” he said.