Hichilema reiterates govt promise to lower the cost of producing food, warns against bush burning

President Hakainde Hichilema has launched the 2024 early maize harvest programme with a commitment to move towards irrigation-based agriculture.

Hichilema said government was embarking on a programme to support the farmers with irrigation facilities across the country.

The President said this in Mkushi District of Central Province during the launch of the early maize harvest programme on Tuesday.

He expressed happiness that through irrigation and rainwater, at least 146, 000 metric tonnes of early maize had been produced by farmers in Central Province.

“We are grateful to all the farmers, both large and small scale for answering government’s call to get into early maize production,” Hichilema stated.

He noted that this had produced approximately 146,000 metric tonnes of early maize, which would go a long way in bolstering the country’s food security.

Hichilema said government was aiming to address food security amid climate change-induced droughts by prioritizing early maize production.

He also restated his pledge to remove taxes and levies applied to dam construction and water harvesting equipment in the revised 2024 national budget.

“We shall take out taxes, levies on irrigation equipments. Take out related costs so that we can lower the cost of irrigation agriculture, lower the cost of producing food. But also lower the cost of generating electricity,” he added.

Hichilema pledged to clamp down on bush burning activitues in order to preserve the environment through the Zambia Environmental Management Agency (ZEMA).

“I am saying bush burning is not acceptable, cutting more trees unnecessarily to create more inefficiency fields is unacceptable,” he warned.

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