SMALL-SCALE farmers in Kitwe have appealed to Government to link them to multi-national-chain stores operating in Zambia to supply them with their produce.
The farmers have argued that it is unfair for the chain stores to import products such as vegetables and carrots from South Africa when the items could be procured locally.
Speaking in an interview with ZANIS in Kitwe yesterday Liwanga Namakando, a farmer from Mwekera Farming block said the local farmers had the capacity to grow enough vegetables and other agricultural produce to supply the chain stores.
She said local farmers were struggling to find a market for their produce while the chain stores operating in Zambia were providing a market for South African farmers at the expense of locals.
Ms Namakando, who belongs to the Empowerment Cooperative in Mwekera, said the organisation’s members were growing various vegetables which they sold at Chamboli Market in Kitwe at a give-away price.
Kitwe district senior agriculture office Francis Katongo said the Department of Agriculture had embarked on a project aimed at enhancing the capacity of small-scale farmers to grow agricultural produce throughout the year using irrigation.
–ZANIS
