As he calls for an integrated approach improving Zambia’s agriculture sector and ensuring food security

SINAZONGWE, ZAMBIA – President Edgar Lungu has called for an integrated approach to finding solutions aimed at protecting the livelihoods of local farmers and ensuring food security.

President Lungu said his government is committed to working with stakeholders to fight the effects of climate change, and find lasting solutions to enable farmers to be more productive.

The Head of State said this when he officially launched the 2019 winter maize harvest at Zambeef’s Sinazongwe farm today.

“In Southern Province, and indeed, other parts of the country, agricultural production has reduced significantly. This has made access to food for many Zambian households whose areas had poor yields, very difficult.

My government is resolved to working closely with farmers, millers and other private sector players, to ensure that we transform the agricultural sector,” said President Lungu.

He added that government will do everything possible to ensure that farmers are happy in the country, and that it is only when farmers are happy that we shall have plenty of food and stabilise food prices in the country.

“I am also pleased that Zambeef regardless of this difficult situation, managed to increase its area under cultivation for winter maize from two hundred hectares to six hundred hectares at a very impressive yield rate of ten tonnes per hectare. This will translate into a total harvest of about six thousand metric tonnes of maize.

Going forward, I urge other farmers across the country, with irrigation facilities to join Zambeef to produce maize throughout the year,” he said.,” said President Lungu.
The Head of State was also pleased to hear that the next crop that Zambeef Plc will focus is cassava, which he said is a very important crop for wealth creation for many of Zambia’s small-scale farmers, and further called for the need to industrialise cassava in a similar manner other countries such as Nigeria have done.

In welcoming the President and invited guests, Zambeef Chief Executive Officer Francis Grogan said that with the adverse effects of climate change, the country and the region was experiencing, now more than ever the farming community needed to be forward thinking on the adequate and sustainable use of the country’s resources.

“The effects of climate change are becoming more and more apparent every year that passes and Zambia hasn’t been spared with poor rainfall seen in many parts of the country while some other countries in the region have seen floods. Both these climate extremes have resulted in low crop yields in some areas and reduced flow into reservoirs to generate power.

To help mitigate climate change, we must invest in water harvesting and irrigation and trap the water that flows in our rivers and streams before it enters the Zambezi river and ends up completely wasted in the Indian Ocean… we must harvest this water, grow food, empower people with employment opportunities in crop production and food processing and take advantage of this enormous domestic and DRC market,” said Mr Grogan.

The company is also working closely with local farmers across the country to buy home-grown inputs for its production operations; its milk is 100% local; all its livestock in terms of beef, poultry and pork, are all sourced from the local farmers; the company grows its own grain and whatever else it needs it gets from its farmers.

Zambeef is the biggest maize buyer of grain after the Food Reserve Agency (FRA). The company is the biggest employers after the mines with approximately 7,555 staff, it is also the biggest rural employer through its various out grower schemes which also leads to rural development in the areas of its operations.

The company produced 18.1 million kgs of beef in 2018. It is also one of the largest chicken and egg producers in Zambia, producing 16.9 million day-old chicks a year and processing 12.8 million kgs of chickens in 2018. Zambeef has also one of the largest piggeries, pig abattoirs and pork processing plants in Zambia, with 9.9 million kgs produced during the year, while its dairy processes around 19.3 million litres of milk a year.

About Zambeef Products Plc
Zambeef Products Plc is the largest integrated cold chain food products and agribusiness company in Zambia and one of the largest in the region, involved in the primary production, processing, distribution and retailing of beef, chicken, pork, milk, eggs, dairy products, fish, flour and stockfeed, throughout Zambia and the surrounding region, as well as Nigeria and Ghana.

It has 206 retail outlets throughout Zambia and West Africa.

The company is one of the largest suppliers of beef in Zambia. Five beef abattoirs and three feedlots located throughout Zambia, with a capacity to slaughter 100,000 cattle a year. Zambeef produced 18.1 million kgs of beef in 2018. It is also one of the largest chicken and egg producers in Zambia, producing 16.9 million day-old chicks a year and processing 12.8 million kgs of chickens in 2018.

It is one of the largest piggeries, pig abattoirs and pork processing plants in Zambia, with 9.9 million kgs produced during the year, while it’s dairy processes around 19.3 million litres of milk a year.

The Group is also one of the largest cereal row cropping operations in Zambia, with approximately 7,787 hectares of row crops under irrigation which are planted twice a year, and a further 8,694 hectares of rainfed/dry-land crops available for planting each year.

Zambeef employs 7,555 people with a total of K420.8 million paid in remuneration and benefits in the last year.

More information is available at www.zambeefplc.com