Farmers oppose government’s plan to import 125,000 tonnes of wheat

The decision by government to import 125,000 metric tonnes of wheat has irked the Zambia National Farmers’ Union (ZNFU) as they were not consulted.

Any requests for wheat importation should be channelled to private sector industry stakeholder consultations to safeguard domestic production and marketing dynamics so that investments in local wheat production continues.

This is according to ZNFU president Jervis Zimba in a statement issued on Tuesday in Lusaka.

ZNFU has questioned the rationale taken hurriedly to allows importation of 125,000 tonnes of wheat and yet Zambia had plenty wheat stocks.

Zimba said ZNFU was dismayed that at a hastily organised meeting held at the Ministry of Agriculture and with no physical verification of stocks, a decision was made to allow importation of 125,000 tonnes of wheat while the private sector led industry consultation process had been avoided.

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“This is wrong and farmers are left wondering at the mixed signal by our Ministry of Agriculture as this is a direct contradiction to what the Republican President has been encouraging farmers to do, which is, that we expand wheat production,” he said.

Zimba stated that the union would not support heavy handed approaches being arranged by the Ministry of Agriculture under the guise of a stock monitoring committee decision when the committee left out key stakeholders.

He stressed that the action by the Ministry would not grow jobs in Zambia and that ZNFU was left wondering who this move was aimed at serving.

Zimba therefore appealed to government to let the wheat industry stakeholders deliberate and determine if at all there was any grounds to turn to imports.

“A review of the last few years’ production and consumption patterns attest to the fact that there is an enormous difference between what is purported to be a shortfall and what is imported into the country.

“The reality is that Zambia is self-sufficient in terms of wheat production except for the fact that exports of value-added products are encouraged to service certain regional niche markets,” he said.

Zimba also challenged the Ministry to respond to the letters from the Union where it had stated categorically that the stock monitoring committee should be re-constituted with a focus on its intended objectives and not serving interests of a selected few.

“All our letters have gone unanswered, and we demand responses immediately,” he regretted.