Opposition political party, FDD, calls for creation of agric bank

Forum for Democracy and Development (FDD) has urged the government to consider re-establishing an agricultural bank in the country.

“The UPND government must consider re-establishing a farmers’ bank similar to the defunct Lima Bank Limited to provide financing need to invest in irrigation facilities,” FDD Information and Publicity Secretary, Caesar Liteta, said in a statement on Wednesday.

Liteta noted that the effects of climate change had become visible and more pronounced.

He said it was high time that President Hakainde Hichilema and his Cabinet considered re-establishing a farmers’ bank to help mitigate effects of climate change in the agricultural sector.

Climate change, he added, was real, hence the need to turn to winter cropping by providing the much-needed funds.

“The current Super El Nino being experienced in the country has devastating effects on the rainfall pattern and going by media reports, we may only have a few days of rainfall in the next five weeks, but sustained rainfall is finished for the 2023 – 2024 farming season, especially for farmers in Lusaka, Central, Eastern and Southern Provinces,” Liteta said.

He added that it was important that government took stock of affected small scale farmers through the extension officers under the Ministry of Agriculture and ensure that a true reflection of affected small scale farmers was captured and prioritised as beneficiaries of farming inputs during the 2024 – 2025 farming season.

Liteta said FDD as a party, had taken effects of climate change seriously and, as a policy matter, had developed the soon to be adopted Environmental Strategic Plan that was centred on Agriculture, health and water and sanitation respectively.

Through the programmes, the party hoped to mitigate effects of climate change in areas of Agriculture, associated diseases and challenges in depleting sources of clean water both, rivers and boreholes.

Liteta said FDD, being an agriculture-inclined political party, believes that without government intervention in mitigating the effects of climate change through re-establishing a farmer’s bank, Zambian small-scale farmers would continue losing out.

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