WESTERN Chamber of Commerce and Industry regional coordinator Fred Mulozi has called on the Ministry of Agriculture to consider rescinding its decision to cancel the provincial agriculture show.

Mr Mulozi said the region has a lot of other agricultural produce to showcase despite the drought experienced in the 2018/2019 farming season. In an interview, Mr Mulozi said the decision to cancel the show for Western Province was done in bad faith because the area is promoting agro-business programmes under the World Bank and the African Development Bank. He said the World Bank is supporting the pilot project for climate resilience which has seen local farmers diversify from maize to cassava growing. Mr Mulozi said AfDB is supporting the cashew infrastructure development programme.

“For us, this is the best time for our farmers to showcase the crops that they have started growing as a way of mitigating effects of climate change such as the drought which hit us in the last farming season. “So, cancelling the [agriculture] show was done in bad faith as stakeholders were not consulted and we urge the ministry to rescind its decision,” Mr Mulozi said. He said the decision will discourage farmers who have embraced the idea of agribusiness.

Mr Mulozi said farmers in the province have also embraced the idea of upland rice, which is droughtresistant. He said agricultural shows provide an opportunity for members of the public to learn about various services provided by different companies. “Agriculture shows are not only maize or crop-oriented, but we have our friends from the private and public sectors who use this period to educate the public on services that they have on offer…this [cancellation] is a big blow,” he said.

Western Province Agriculture and Commercial Show Co-operative Society board secretary Webster Muwowo said the event should have been allowed to take place to enable farmers to exchange ideas and best practices from each other. And local entrepreneur Ikafa Musilizo said the province has embraced fish farming, adding that this is an opportunity for those with fish ponds to sell the idea to others.

He said the cancellation of the show defeats the purpose of advising farmers to diversify. On Monday, the Ministry of Agriculture announced the cancellation of provincial agricultural shows for Western, Southern and Lusaka provinces due to the drought the areas experie