BY STEPHANIE KUNDA –
GOVERNEMNT has urged farmers to safeguard last year’s harvest because it will be helpful with the unpredictable weather pattern the country is facing.
Ministry of Agriculture Permanent Secretary Julius Shawa said the fact that some farmers had held on to last years harvest was good and it would help secure food.
“With the dry spells that we are facing especially in the Southern, Eastern and Western parts of the country, it is good that some farmers hold on to their Maize,” he said.
He said in an interview yesterday it was worrying that it had not rained for a long time and that led to the wilting of maize already planted.
Mr Shawa said it would be a challenge to recover the maize lost because of the rain pattern and that those farmers holding on to their maize would have something for themselves in their barns.
He said according to the weather forecast, it was predicted that it would rain in the coming weeks, but that even this being the case, it needed to rain more to moisturize the maize already planted.
Mr Shawa said although there had been no policy directive so far to stop the exports of maize, but there was still need for farmers to safe guard last year’s harvest.
