Q FM Africa's Modern Radio
Christians Against Poverty in Zambia (CAPIZ) says it is unacceptable for Zambia to continue importing fertilizer 50 years after independence.
CAPIZ President Reverend Gregory Chileshe has told QFM News in an interview that this trend has affected the development of the agriculture sector.
Reverend Chileshe notes that the late distribution of farming inputs appears to be a perpetual problem which has failed to be addressed.
Reverend Chileshe also wonders how possible it will be to reduce mealie meal prices in the country when the agricultural sector is not decentralized.
He says so much money is involved in the importation of fertilizer which can be used to fully revamp the Nitrogen Chemical of Zambia (NCZ) in order to ensure local production of fertilizer.
He adds that it is time the government addressed the problem of late delivery of farming inputs by decentralizing the operations of NCZ to all the ten provinces of Zambia to reduce on long distance movements which cause late delivery and reduce on the cost of hiring vehicles mostly from Lusaka.
Reverend Chileshe proposes that in each province, there should big Nitrogen Chemicals industries to produce fertilizer.