WE WANT TO EXPORT MORE TO DRC, SO WE WILL NOT SHUT DOWN THE BORDERS AGAIN, PRESIDENT HICHILEMA ASSURES HIS COUNTERPART, PRESIDENT TSHISEKEDI

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By Christopher Chisi

 

President Hakainde Hichilema has assured his Congolese counterpart, Felix Tshisekedi who is expected in the country in the next few days that the Zambian government will not shut down its borders in order to facilitate the export of mealie meal among other agricultural products to the Democratic Republic of Congo-DRC.


This came to light when President Hichilema addressed a press conference held at Statehouse in Lusaka on Monday (25 April 2022.)


The President said the government wants to export more [agricultural produce] to the DRC hence its decision not to close its borders again.


The President said shutting down the borders will result in the country losing the much-needed forex.


"President Tshisekedi is coming [to Zambia] and amongst the things we are dealing in, we want to export more to Congo-DR including mealie meal. That is why we are not shutting those borders again, even when people are asking us to shut[down] the borders. When we shut the borders, under the previous administration, Congo gave us [an order of] 500 thousand metric tons of mealie meal and we shut the border and President Tshisekedi said to me," you shut the border my brother, your brother shut the border. The Congolese want to eat Nshima every day, now you didn't even tell us you, shut the border and there was no mealie meal....because I was asking him, can you give us that order back, he said I will give you but stop shut the border because the Congolese will kill me because they love Nshima and we gave the order to South Africa, so why are you complaining. So I promised I will not shut the border again give me back that contract. So am going to arm-twist him as he comes a few days from now," he said.


Meanwhile, President Hichilema has observed that there is a great opportunity for the country to raise cheaper capital to invest in the agriculture sector to help lower the cost of production.


The Head of State said the government will take advantage of the country's good climatic conditions to produce maize, wheat and cotton as well as agricultural trees to maximize benefits from the sector.


"We have the climate, we have the land, not just land but good soils, and we have water. We want to take advantage [of these features] to feed [the nation] and produce wheat, maize cotton and agricultural trees so that we can maximize benefits and feed ourselves, the region and export, " the President said.


President Hichilema further said Zambia is a land-linked country hence the government is working towards ensuring that the country becomes the production centre of agricultural produce.


"We don't want to hear complaints that Zambia is a landlocked country, fyakale ifyo [that is history] the President said.Sitifuna kumvela ma complaints (we don't want to hear complaints) that we are landlocked, no we are land-linked we are a special country, eight plus one neighbours, nine....


And President Hichilema reiterated that the government will move away from the Farmer Input Support Program-FISP to Agriculture Support Program in order to realize the full potential of the agriculture sector.


"We are moving away citizens from FISP, FISP alone is not Agriculture and Agriculture is not fertilizer and seed. Agriculture is irrigation, Agriculture is Agriculture trees, Avocado, Millbury for Silky, Agriculture is cattle, and agriculture is vegetables. We are going for Agriculture Support Program, for overall agriculture to realize the full potential of agriculture, jobs, Gross Domestic products GDP contribution to the country, value addition and processing. We are looking for a lower cost of capital to invest in agriculture....., to help lower the cost of production," he said.


He said this will not be actualized if takes eight months for the Water Resources Management Authority-WARMA to give water rights.


"Why do you call ourselves to be a country with 35 percent of fresh water in Southern Africa, why are we proud of that [when] we are not using the water?" he wondered.

 

 

 

 

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