Q FM Africa's Modern Radio
AGRICULTURE Minister Given Lubinda says the country’s maize production for this year is forecast to increase to 2, 873, 52 metric tonnes from 2,618,221 metric tonnes in the 2014/2015 season.
Mr Lubinda has told Parliament in a ministerial statement that this is an increase of 9.73%.
He says when total maize re
He says the national average yield for maize has also increased to 2.1 metric tonnes per hectare from 1.7 metric tonnes per hectare last season, representing an increase of 20.14%.
Mr. Lubinda says that small and medium scale farmers have recorded an average maize yield rate of 2.03 metric tonnes per hectare while large scale farmers have recorded an average maize yield rate of 5.05 metric tonnes per hectare.
He adds that despite the increase in total maize production, the area planted to maize and some other crops has decreased compared to last season
And Mr Lubinda says national food balance sheet for the 2016/2017 marketing season based on the crop forecasting survey shows that the country has produced sufficient maize for both human consumption and industrial use.
He says the food balance sheet indicates that Zambia has recorded a maize surplus of 634,681 metric tonnes.