Kabimba:Sata Deserves Praise For Bumper Harvest

President Michael Sata deserves commendation for the positive results from the implementation of PF agriculture policies, says Wynter Kabimba.
Kabimba, the party secretary general, said President Sata, as a torch bearer of the vision of the development agenda, deserved to be commended for the historic maize bumper harvest of 3.3 million metric tonnes recorded from the 2013-2014 farming season.
“Our colleagues in the ministry of agriculture, who have tried largely to interpret and implement the PF policy under our manifesto and my colleagues who have been ministers of agriculture since the PF got into need to be thanked too. And obviously as a Christian nation, we cannot take away the divine intervention of God in these matters,” he said in an interview.
Kabimba said this year’s historic bumper harvest showed that the PF’s agricultural policies were working.
He said the record harvest this year was a remarkable achievement for the PF and its government.
The 2013/2014 farming season saw maize output increase by 32 per cent from the previous farming season’s 2.5 million tonnes.
Kabimba said the bumper harvest could not have happened without the people believing in the policies of the government.
A crop forecast on Monday showed that apart from maize, production of rice, millet, groundnuts and tobacco had also increased this farming season, compared to the last season.
Kabimba said farmers needed to be commended for their input through supporting the government by ensuring food security in the country.
“As secretary general of the PF, I would like to commend our farmers, especially the small and medium-scale farmers who have contributed largely to this bumper harvest of 3.3 million tonnes of maize this year,” he said in an interview.
“I think this shows that policies of the government in the area of agriculture are yielding positive results.”
Kabima said agriculture forms part of the core programmes of the party’s social and economic national agenda and is ranked third after education and health.
“Agriculture is extremely important because it is supposed to promote the food security and food sovereignty of our country,” he said.
“No country can walk with its head high and with pride if it cannot feed itself. So, it is gratifying to see that along with the other development projects that the Patriotic Front is rolling out in the areas of road infrastructure, aviation, education and health; agriculture is also joining this band wagon of development agenda.”
Kabimba said the bumper harvest could not have happened without the people believing in the policies of the PF.
“It is evidence that our people still have a great deal of confidence that this political party and this government can transform their lives and turn this country into a better country for all of us,” he said.
Kabimba, who is also justice minister, said the government was trying its best to ensure social and economic development.
“It is not just agriculture, the people who are working on other projects are quickly working very hard and we are seeing projects; even road infrastructure being completed on time,” he said.
“This is an indication that the PF party places people’s welfare first.”
The PF under its manifesto seeks to ensure support to farmers, promote crop diversification by encouraging farmers in remote areas to focus their cash-cropping on high value commodities like tobacco and cotton.
The party also seeks to boost research, depoliticise the Farmer Input Support Programme and introduce techniques for optimum utilisation of flood plains and wetland areas for the production of non-traditional cash crops such as rice and sugar cane.