MOOBWE CALLS FOR INVESTMENT IN IRRIGATION

By NOEL IYOMBWA

IT has now become difficult to predict how seasons will be, hence the need for the Government to equip small-holder farmers with irrigation facilities, Small-scale Farmers Development Agency director Boyd Moobwe has said.

In an interview, Mr. Moobwe said climate change issues had been affecting most countries around the world and that Zambia was not an exception.

He said to avoid a situation that occurred during the 2023/2024 farming season, the Government should come up with solutions that would ensure that smallholder farmers have irrigation facilities.

According to the SAFADA Director, the Government should prepare adequately in case there was another drought by providing irrigation facilities to small-scale farmers in the form of loans.

“It is important that the Government look into issues such as irrigation for our smallholders in case the country experiences another drought looking at how climate change has affected the entire continent.

“Smallholder farmers can grow food throughout the year provided they have facilities and the tools that can enable them to do so and they can only be provided by the Government through some sort of loans,” Mr. Moobwe said.

He commended the Government for also engaging smallholder farmers to participate in the growing of winter maize but he was quick to mention that the farmers were invited at the last minute.

He said the farmers needed more time to prepare adequately as growing winter maize demanded a lot of time and inputs but called on farmers to venture into organic and sustainable farming to get more yield.

He further said the Government on the other hand should encourage sustainable type of agriculture among smallholder farmers.

“If smallholder farmers are encouraged and empowered to use sustainable and regenerative farming practices, they can replenish land for future use. In this way, their families will thrive,” he said.

He explained that his organisation wanted to enter into agreements with some financial organisations to help farmers who could not afford to get loans at bigger financial institutions.

He further said his organisation was promoting the use of organic fertilizer though it was not discouraging the use of synthetic fertilizer.

“We are not discouraging the use of fertilizer but we are just encouraging small-scale farmers to try organic fertilizer and sustainable agriculture because they also get good yields.

“As SAFADA, we have organic fertilizer called ALGASOL from the Czech Republic which we are selling and two years from now this company is going to set up a plant here in Zambia,” he said.