By PERPETUAL SICHIKWENKWE –

. Lungu

PRESIDENT Edgar Lungu has assured farmers of Government’s commitment to improve the agriculture sector by ensuring timely payment for their produce and distribution of inputs.
This is in view of the fact that the Government values the contribution of farmers to the economic development of the country.
Mr Lungu said when he addressed scores of Matumbo residents in Shiwang’andu District at a rally on Sunday that agriculture was a priority for him because he grew up through small-scale farming.
Mr Lungu said the Government would ensure that farmers were paid on time and that the provision of farming inputs such as seed and fertiliser was done on time.
“We will not delay payment to the farmers because we know that you depend on that money‎. We know that being a farmer depends on how we quickly we supply fertiliser and how quickly we pay you for the product you supply to us,” Mr Lungu said.
Mr Lungu said he was aware that a lot of things had been said about the Patriotic Front (PF) regarding farming, but added that small-scale farmers should be assured that the Government valued farming.
He said the Government was diversifying from mining to agriculture and urged farmers to also diversify the crops to get better results.
“On that score, we are appealing to the private sector to help us diversify the economy in agriculture, mining, tourism and other sectors,” Mr Lungu said.
He urged residents to choose good leaders in the August 11 general elections who were able to continue developing their area.
He said in the five years that it has been in power, the PF  had taken development to Matumbo area as evidenced by the construction of the Matumbo/Chama Road which connects Muchinga to Eastern Province up to Malawi.
The President, who earlier visited the construction sites of Matumbo Secondary School ‎and a police post, assured the residents that the Government would source for funds to ensure the completion of the projects so that residents could have their own secondary school and police post.
Mr Lungu said it was sad that some opposition leaders were paying a blind eye to the progress the country was making, saying that some of them were happy whenever the country was facing challenges.
He urged the electorate to judge leaders on that score, and vote for responsible leaders.
Meanwhile, President Lungu has prodded parents in Matumbo area not to trade off their daughters into early marriages, but encourage them to finish school.
Mr Lungu said parents should help him ensure that the girl-child was sent to school in order to secure a better ‎future for themselves.
He said an educated woman made a better mother than one who did not go to school and that the country and the family stood to benefit more from an educated woman.
“Please, if it is money that you are looking for, we have got ways of empowering you in the ministry of Gender than tagging of your daughter into marriage,” Mr Lungu said.
President said women had a big responsibility in society and urged them to actively participate in politics, as they were the ones who knew more about the suffering of the people in communities and homes.
Mr Lungu said women were important because it was through a woman that he went to school and became what he is today.
He said, despite him wanting 40 per cent women representation in the PF, he was not getting enough applications from women from which he could pick the percentage he desired.
Meanwhile, President Lungu has called for unity in the PF structures and stopped members from harassing others.
Mr Lungu said he had received reports of members harassing those who had gone astray to support some opposition political parties whom he described as being of ‘no fixed abode’ but were now coming back to the PF.
He said such members should be welcomed and embraced because politics was about numbers.
Mr Lungu was on a two-day official visit to Chinsali in Muchinga Province and returned to Lusaka on Sunday evening.