IT’S JUST A THOUGHT: PLOWING INTO AGRICULTURE

Wynegood G. Malunga

I was just thinking; we have talked about it enough. Zambia must aggressively pursue major investment in agriculture.

I know that some people do not believe that the State should be engaged in agriculture but I hold a different view. I think that in the absence of private investors or even parallel to private investment, the State must kick-start the agricultural revolution as a matter of urgency.

With Brian  Moyo and his wife - 2014

In the past, the Zambia National Service and ZCCM proved that we could venture into full scale agricultural projects by running vast projects as in the case of ZCCM, ranching and wheat schemes such as the Munkumpu Wheat Scheme.

Developed under the UNIP Government led by President Kenneth Kaunda, the Munkumpu Wheat Scheme was an absolutely fantastic project. It was the brainchild of a man I knew and became a big brother to me, a brilliant manager called Brian Moyo. The idea for this wheat scheme was birthed prior to the time that Nchanga Farms became a subsidiary of Mulungushi Investments. Sadly, Brian Moyo passed away a year or two ago and I am sure that many will want to take credit for his great work. His right hand man was a gentleman named Richard McGrath based in Kitwe. I am not sure if he is still lives in Kitwe.

When Mulungushi Investments was formed all ZCCM Subsidiaries, with exception of those under ZAL Holdings and Joe Banda, were placed under Mulungushi Investments. Shortly thereafter certain companies and responsibilities were separated and placed under Mr Malcom Freed, with a separate board of Directors. This included all tourism ventures and forward planning for Tourism. There were excellent well constructed plans in place to take tourism to another level, “special projects” were placed under Malcom Freed because of the sensitive nature of some of them and included another Munkumpu type project in each of Zambia’s Provinces.

Malcom Freed who has now settled in South Africa told me a short while ago that Munkumpu was one of the best Agricultural Projects he had ever seen. A dam was constructed to secure water for the overhead irrigation and each and every field had overhead irrigation. The project was primarily winter wheat and summer maize, and was capable, on commissioning, of producing 10% of Zambia’s wheat requirement, there were also many hectares for cattle grazing as well but this was a by-product of the main intention.

At the launch of the project, President Kaunda announced a similar project in each of Zambia’s provinces. The following week, Malcom Freed was summoned to Lusaka by the President and told to start planning similar schemes in the other provinces.

As you know Zambia is blessed with many perennial rivers and an abundance of water. Malcolm and his team decided that in order to save the expense of Dam construction, they would target good perennial rivers where they could get away with a weir and a pump house direct from the river into the feeder canal. It had been decided that a further three farms would be constructed in Phase 1.

After a lot of planning, it was eventually decided settle on three sites for Phase 1:

1. On the Chambeshi River in Northern Province.

Nakambala Sugar Estate

2. On Lunga River in the North Western.

3. On the Zambezi north of Kazungula.

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I would seriously consider Government kick-starting new commercial farms in areas of the country where there is potential but currently neglected. It is a fact that some major agricultural projects in existence today were started by government and later sold, some for a song, to private investors. Nakambala Sugar Estate, Airport Farms, Mongu Cashew Nut Plantation, tea and coffee schemes and others were implemented by the UNIP Government. Without those initial ventures, we would have had to start from the beginning after 1991 which would have

been a mammoth task with all the corruption that emerged. At Independence, Zambia was importing sugar, beef and even vegetables. Shortly after, we were exporting sugar to Europe, beef and fresh roses were loaded on Zambia Airways subsidiary, National Air Charter cargo flights for the lucrative Dutch and other markets.

The North Western Province of Zambia receives large amounts of rainfall and has very fertile soil but there are no serious agricultural projects taking place in that area. We should be producing maize and cassava, fruit and vegetables and value-add them into innovative products in the Mufumbwe, Manyinga and Kabompo areas where milling and food processing factories would be located. Such projects more than justify the proposed railway project in the province.

The famous road and bridge that has been the subject of much boasting in the Western Province must lead to economically active agricultural ventures. That road should lead to commercial rice fields, fish farms complimented by fish processing factories and rice refineries. Currently, all the mangoes, guavas, banana, pine apple and other fruit grown in this country are just eaten, straight from the tree. There is no value addition at all. There is need to think of value addition to all our produce.  Such a move not only creates new jobs but develops the country with new towns and cities, housing, the spread of educational and banking institutions and other economical activities, thus decongesting our current cities and towns along the line of rail. This will also result in a more equitable distribution of wealth in the country apart from easing some of the tensions that have arisen due to lack of development in some provinces lagging behind.

There has to be a deliberate policy of selective creation of new farming blocks that will compete with privately owned farms in the Mkushi block and Southern Province, for example.

Mongu Cashew Nut Plantation

There is no reason why the Natural Resources Development College cannot be turned into a university, own and run commercial farms which will make the institution self-sustaining, creating jobs for its students and other Zambians. Land can be identified and funds sought to make this a reality. An NRDC University - Mongu Campus can own and run the Mongu Cashew Nut Plantation. I believe the new Kapasa Makasa University in Chinsali will be under the management of the Copperbelt University and this provides another opportunity for the School of Natural Sciences to get involved in major agricultural projects in the province in the future. Companies under these institutions would not only provide jobs but scholarships for deserving students.

We must also strive to bring new technology to the farming sector and ensure that our produce does not go to waste by building granaries throughout the country.  

One of Zambia’s major weakest links in agriculture has been poor storage and also lack of adequate storage facilities throughout the country. The Food Reserve Agency has proven to be incapable of providing quality service to farmers. In fact, the FRA does not store anything else apart from maize. There is no wheat, no groundnuts, no beans...nothing!

The Holy Bible tells us that over 3, 500 years ago in the land of Egypt; a Hebrew young man named Joseph became Prime Minister and was able to store, without any waste, seven years harvest of grain. He was also able to supply the entire world during a further seven years of famine. This means he stored enough grain to cover a total of fourteen years!

With modern technology available, Zambia has failed to store a few weeks of maize harvest. That’s the only thing we store. That is a shame. Joseph did not have combine harvesters, tractors, tarred roads, kilometer-long Chinese-built bridges and twenty two-wheeler forty-ton trucks and trailers. How then can we fail with modern technology all around us? Perhaps our Food Reserve Agency must go back and study the Bible and other history books to learn why Joseph was a success.

It’s just a thought.