By Josiah Mpofu
The Ministry of Agriculture and the ministry of fisheries and Livestock said they will strengthen collaboration between the two ministries to ensure that food security in the country is enhanced.
Agriculture Permanent Secretary Green Mbozi explained that both ministries cannot work in isolation as they were created to save one purpose, of providing services to farmers in order to increase their production capacity.
He added that there is no need to look at both ministries differently as most farmers are able to engage in crop production and livestock rearing.
“When you visit a farm, you will notice that one farmer can grow various crops such as maize, beans and groundnut among others, and keep cattle, goats and chickens,” explained Mr. Mbozi.
Mr. Mbozi however encouraged farmers in the country to adopt climate smart technologies as a way to fight climate change which is limiting both livestock and crop production.
He observed that the country is likely to face low yields in the 2021/2022 farming season due to flash floods and droughts that hit various regions in the country especially Southern and part of Central provinces.
“The crops have not performed well in this farming season in most regions of the country due to the dry spell and floods that characterized several provinces especially Southern, Part of Central, Western and Eastern,” observed Mr. Mbozi.
Mr. Mbozi said this when him, and the Fisheries and Livestock Permanent Secretary Anna Songolo toured the Golden Valley Agricultural Research Trust-GART- in Chisamba district.
And Dr. Songolo noted that her Ministry is keen to ensuring that smallholder farmers are equipped with knowledge that will boost their production levels.
Dr. Songolo said without proper knowledge on proper agricultural practices farmers cannot acquire profit in their ventures.
“Limited access to basic agricultural knowledge and skills by smallholder farmers in the country has made them to continue depending on old farming methods and livestock rearing, thereby leading to poor crop and livestock productivity,” said Dr. Songolo.
