National Union for small scale farmers of Zambia says small scale farmers should unite if there to be any meaningful growth in the agriculture sector.
Union General Secretary Emack Kaoma during a visit to Chibombo (Kabwe) on Wednesday 14 Sept., cited that since independence in 1964, the plight of this class of farmers has been neglected despite their immense contribution to country food security. The need to empower them cannot be overemphasized.
Access to markets for produce and agriculture financing has been an vast challenge for the farmers, Mr. Kaoma said.
Highlighted also was that despite commercial farmers being in the minority, their economies of scale makes market access seamless. They even enjoy better financing privileges, he said.
“Small scale farmers need a single voice in representation to improve their bargaining power for market access and financing like the commercial farmers enjoy, “he said.
The mandate of the National Union for small scale farmers is to create a stronger bargaining position for the seemingly minority yet majority food producers to improve their crop marketing and leverage better financing opportunities. This should translate to more resilient growth in the agriculture sector.
National Union for Small Scale farmers – NUSZ was incepted in 2002 and has a total paid up membership of about 9,000 local farmers.