By Dickson Jere
The Zambian government has announced its intention to pass a new law in Parliament, which will establish an agency to spearhead the development of farming block across the country and in particular irrigation.
The “Farm Block Development Agency (FBAB)” Bill has been approved by Cabinet in principle and will target about ten (10) farming blocks in Zambia to facilitate enhanced access to agricultural mechanization.
“It is envisaged that establishing the Farm Block Development Agency for the irrigation programme, will ensure o efficient coordination of all the farm blocks, mechanization and irrigation projects in the country,” the statement by Cabinet reads.
The idea is to have a sustained project of irrigation of maize crops and therefore contribute to the targeted three (3) million metric tonnes of irrigated maize for food security and reducing dependency on rain-fed agriculture.
Government said the FBDA will target 696 centres across the country by the year 2031 and the agency will also coordinate the implementation of irrigation programmes on over 500,000 hectares of land into crop production centres.
This Bill is welcomed and should be supported by progressive voices. If I was in Parliament as MP, I would support this Bill but with additional pointers as follows;
1. While the establishment of the FBDA is welcome, there is need to also under that the slow progress in development of farm blocks has been the lack of basic infrastructure. This Agency should go beyond irrigation but also spearhead infrastructure development such as roads, sanitation and electricity supply to these areas. Most people who have been allocated land on these farming blocks cannot access them due to lack of roads.
2. The FBDA should also be tasked to source for support and finance to build facilities such as schools, hospitals and other social amenities near the farming blocks to support the settlers.
3. The FBDA must work with the financial institutions in Zambia and abroad to source for cheaper money to lend to farmers that will be settled in most of the farming blocks. The cost of borrowing for small scale farmers in Zambia is very expensive.
With the above points in mind, I support this initiative. It is long overdue and if well implemented, it can help stir farming activities in the various farming blocks. So, the irrigation aspect should not be the focus of the FBDA but rather be on the entire infrastructure development of the farms.
