LUBINDA DISSOLVES ALL
AGRICULTURAL BOARDS AND TRUSTS
The Minister of Agriculture and Livestock,
Hon. Given Lubinda, on Tuesday 26th May dissolved all the boards and
Trusts under his Ministry in a bid to increase their operational
efficiencies. The boards dissolved
include the Food
Reserve Agency (FRA), Nitrogen Chemicals of Zambia (NCZ), Tobacco Board
of Zambia (TBZ), Cotton Board of Zambia (CBZ), Zambia Coffee
Board (ZCB) and Dairy Development Board (DDB). The In-Service Training Trust
(ISTT), Golden Valley Agriculture Research Trust (GART), Livestock Development
Trust (LDT) and Cotton Development Trust (CDT) have also been dissolved. All
the functions of the boards and trusts will be handled by the two Permanent
Secretaries of MAL until new boards and trusts are instituted.
CHISAMBA FARMERS
COMMEND ZNFU FOR THE WATER ACT UPDATE
Farmers in Chisamba district have commended
the ZNFU for an update on the latest developments being implemented by the
Water Resource Management Authority (WARMA). This happened during a special
farmers meeting held at Fringilla Club in Chisamba on 28th May, 2015
to discuss pertinent issues in the agricultural sector. Among the updates given
included the fact that WARMA has continued with consultative
meetings with farmers on the implementation of the Water Act of 2011, and that farmers active in irrigation are encouraged to voluntarily be part of
water users associations as decisions on water use and allocation will start
from recommendations of this structure.
The meeting also
heard that permit application fees have been proposed for ratification as per
the following categories;
- K 500 for permit application to abstract water 365, 000m3 per year,
- K 100 for permit application to abstract water between 12, 000 and 365, 000m3 per year,
- K 1000 for any mining or hydropower permit application and K 100 for any other permits application.
The meeting was also
informed that the ZNFU is actively engaging WARMA on some provisions in the Water Act of 2011, such as those which might disadvantage agricultural
investments, vis-à-vis change from water user rights to permits.
And during the same meeting,
farmers urged the ZNFU to closely monitor developments in the importation of the
75,000mt of wheat which was recently announced by government, so that the
importation does not happen at a time when the local wheat is ready for marketing,
as this may depress the local prices.
Further to the
deliberations during the meeting, the farmers emphasised that the local beef
industry should at all cost be protected from imports as the country cannot compete
favourably in the region because imported beef is assumed to be highly subsidized and fed on GMO
products and growth stimulants.
