LOAD SHEDDING HITS COMMERCIAL FARMERS

By NOEL IYOMBWA

THE shortage of electricity that has hit the country due to low water levels at lake Kariba has affected agriculture production, an agriculture expert has said.

National Association for Smallholder Farmers of Zambia (NASFAZ) Executive Director Frank Kayula said load shedding had mostly affected commercial farmers who depended on power for production.

Dr. Kayula explained that unlike smallholder farmers, commercial farmers used advanced farm machinery which required electricity but that with the continued long hours of load shedding, agriculture production had been affected.

He said other alternative energy sources were expensive considering that commercial farmers operated on large pieces of land and noted that there was a possibility of a hike in agricultural produce coming from commercial farmers due to high cost of production.

“The continued load shedding is affecting agriculture production. Commercial farmers have greatly been affected hence affecting production. People should expect to see a rise in prices of agricultural produce.

“Commercial farmers are supposed to access electricity at lower rates but with the country experiencing power cuts, the cost of production has become high and hence we should not expect cheap products from these commercial farmers,” he said.

And Dr Kayula stated that smallholder farmers on the other hand are indirectly affected with load shedding.

He explained that companies producing agriculture inputs are also affected by load shedding hence they also hike prices of inputs.

“As much as load shedding is affecting commercial farmers, small-scale farmers on the other hand are also affected because prices of inputs keep going up due to high cost of production.

“Some smallholder farmers use other alternative sources of energy for production such fuel for their generators but unfortunate fuel is a bit expensive making it hard for ordinary smallholder farmers,” he said.