By Staff Reporter
The removal of agricultural subsidies will bring untold hunger in this country, paramount chief of the Ngoni people, Mpezeni has said.
Speaking with Daily Revelation, Mpezeni said if the UPND administration removes agricultural subsidies, people will die with hunger as most rural dwellers who also produce food for the urban dwellers, depend on the same programme for farming.
“So ngabafumyapo FISP iyi ine twalafwa tebantu kuno. Kaili fwe kuno fwebo twikala kuno ku mushi kaili tulekabila kuli ababene kaili. Nomba kaili fertilizer efyo ifikile nomba apa kukaba insala kuno. Nangu impiya kuti fwebo ifwe tulekalila mu ulimi (Once they remove this FISP programme we shall die with hunger here. Here in rural areas we live through farming, and we depend on the same programme. But where the price of fertilizer has reached, there will be hunger here. For us to have money here it is through farming),” Mpezeni said using average Bemba, the language of his tribal cousins. “Nomba chikaba shani? Ninshi mwatwipaya fwebo kuno abakumushi. Kaili fwebo tatubomba, efilyako mweo uko imwe abena kalale mulebomba. Nomba fwebo abena mushi kuno. Sure. Sure (How is it going to be now? That is like killing us here is rural areas. Because here we don’t work, at least your there in urban areas have jobs. How about we in here in villages).”
Mpezeni urged the UPND administration to continue with the agricultural subsidies as they were because “sitinga kwanise se kugula fertilizer. No! (we can’t manage to buy fertilizer here in rural areas. No!).”
“Kaili kuno kumunzi tuchetekela kuti tinkaleko naka ndalama kamba kaulimi chabe. Muma ngati bachosako vonse ivo ndiye kuti kuno batipaya se kuno munzi (We also look forward to have money here through farming. But if they remove all that it means that they have killed us),” said Mpezeni. “Anso namuziko muzabwela njala ka. Kaili imwe uko ku town mwe imwe simulima. Muchetekela se akuno kumunzi kuti tizikulimilani kuti imwe muzidya (And it means there will be untold hunger in the country, because you people in towns there you don’t farm, you wait for us to grow food for you so that you eat).”
The IMF conditionalities have demanded the removal of subsidies on electricity, fuel and reforming the Farmer Input Support programme which goes towards helping small scale farmers to enhance production.
