Unpaid farmers, rising reserves; M’membe blasts UPND economic policy as govt promises Jan 10 to pay debts

Socialist Party President, Dr. Fred M’membe, has accused the UPND government of exploiting farmers through what he described as cruelty disguised as economic fiscal discipline.

M’membe said it was both tragic and morally indefensible for the government to publicly boast about holding US$5 billion in foreign reserves while thousands of Zambian farmers remain unpaid for maize supplied to the state.

In a statement issued in Lusaka on Thursday, M’membe questioned the moral justification of celebrating foreign reserves when farmers were unable to pay for farming inputs, service loans, or adequately prepare for the next farming season.

“This is not economic prudence. It is cruelty disguised as fiscal discipline.
A government that takes maize from farmers, sells part of it, benefits from the proceeds, and then withholds payment is not managing an economy. It is exploiting its own citizens. Who does that to the very people who feed the nation,” he said.

M’membe argued that the money sitting in the reserves did not belong to President Hakainde Hichilema or the UPND government, but to Zambian farmers.

He said the reserves represented the sweat of rural households and the dignity of men and women who trusted the state in good faith.

“Any reserve built on unpaid obligations is not a reserve. It is stolen time, stolen labour, and stolen hope.
The consequences of this insensitivity will not be abstract. They will be real and devastating,” M’membe said.

He warned that farmers who were not paid today would not plant tomorrow, noting that reduced planting would result in food shortages next year and beyond.

“It means higher mealie meal prices. It means hunger. It means instability. No amount of praise from Western embassies or international financial institutions will fill empty granaries,” he said.

The aspiring presidential candidate said President Hichilema appeared more eager to impress Western governments than to protect the livelihoods of Zambians.

He argued that an obsession with external approval had produced a dangerous policy mindset where pleasing creditors and donors took precedence over paying farmers and safeguarding food security.

M’membe said the Zambian government existed to serve its people, not to validate foreign economic theories.

“A government that claims to be pro-poor cannot build its macroeconomic narrative on the suffering of small-scale farmers,” he said.

He added that President Hichilema should not preach fiscal discipline to farmers who delivered maize, waited months without payment, and watched interest on their loans accumulate.

Finance and National Planning Minister, Dr. Situmbeko Musokotwane announced that outstanding payments to all farmers who supplied maize to the Food Reserve Agency (FRA) will be fully settled by January 10, 2026.

Musokotwane reassured the nation that payments to farmers were progressing, but regretted the delays.

He explained that in the interim, the FRA would continue to receive funds from financing institutions, alongside proceeds from ongoing maize sales, enabling payments to be made on a rolling basis in tranches.

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