ZAMBIA: Caritas Zambia concerned over farmers exploitation in the country
Caritas Zambia has called upon activists and people of good will to air the plight of poor farmers who are being exploited by unscrupulous business people who buy grains at a cheaper price without putting into consideration the production cost.
In a statement issued by Caritas Zambia’s Livelihood and Climate Change Adaptation Programme Officer Ms Musamba Mubanga, the development is as reminder of the words of the Prophet Amos to Israelites who were living off the poor farmers and swindling them of their grain.
“Listen to this you who crush the needy and reduce the oppressed to nothing. You say, when will the new moon be over so that we can sell our corn, and the Sabbath, so that we can market our wheat? Then we can fraudulently tamper with the scales and even get a price for the sweeping of the wheat. Yahweh has sworn by the pride of Jacob, never will I forget anything they have done”, Amos 8:4-7.
Ms. Mubanga stated that Caritas Zambia is concerned over the low maize price floated at about US 6.5 per 50kg bag compared to last year’s US 9.32.
“It is evident that this price will not benefit small scale farmers in any way, but rather leave a farmer making huge losses from which recovery will be difficult. Apparently, low crop prices is not only associated with maize grain, it also applies to soya beans as which has also dropped from last year’s US 0.54 per Kg to USD 0.16 this year. The reduction of the prices will just add misery to the already impoverished households,” she said.
Ms. Musamba added that in as much as the 2016/2017 rainy season was favourable, farmers faced numerous challenges like the invasion of army worms which forced many farmers to lose money in replanting to replace the crop that was destroyed.
Caritas Zambia through Ms. Musamba has since called on the government to revise the price of Maize and Soya beans upwards to protect the farmers from bankruptcy.
Caritas Zambia further hopes government, through the Ministry of Agriculture will shift its focus to the promotion of agriculture that sustains the health of soil, ecosystem and people, dependent on the earth our common home.
