Zambia Nantional Farmers Union president Jervis Zimba has refuted the story aired on ZNBC quoting him saying ‘Zambia has enough grain’.

In a statement issued on Monday, Zimba stated that ZNFU would make a substantiated position on the 2018 crop yield after a survey was conducted.

“The Zambia National Farmers’ Union (ZNFU) wishes to make its position known regarding a report aired on Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) on Saturday, February 24, 2018 attributed to Union president Jervis Zimba, that the country will have a good harvest in 2018. We wish to state that the story aired had factual errors because as ZNFU, we will only be able to make a substantiated position on the 2018 crop yield after a crop survey is conducted and figures ascertained.” he stated.

Zimba insisted that the 2017/2018 farming season had been challenging due to the droughts which had affected provinces considered as “Agricultural-Belts”.

“What should also be taken into consideration is that we have had a challenging 2017/2018 farming season as a country where some critical provinces considered “Agricultural-Belts” have been affected by drought and flush floods (Central, Lusaka, Southern, and parts of Eastern Provinces). The drought from December 2017 to end of January 2018 has considerably affected the maturity of crop in the named provinces, and to make a statement on harvests at this stage would be premature,” he stated.

Zimba demanded a retraction from ZNBC.

“We wish to assure our members and the nation at large that ZNFU will make its position known once a national crop survey is conducted and estimates are recorded. ZNFU will always communicate factual information as regards national food security. We also wish for ZNBC to make this correction and furnish the nation with ZNFU’s correct position on the matter,” stated Zimba.