Strategies Kenneth Kaunda Introduced To Reduce Poverty In Zambia
In 1964, the government realized that agriculture was the basis of the nation’s economy, this was echoed in the first national development plan of 1966, this is where it was recognized that agriculture would play a leading part in achieving the aims of self-sufficiency in major economic sectors. The government under Dr Kenneth Kaunda believed that this would make a saving on the treasury. Dr Kenneth Kaunda introduced different strategies so as to accelerate agricultural production. These policies were of extension services, credit facilities, pricing and marketing were all used to encourage agriculture changes after independence. The government recognized two boards namely the agriculture rural marketing and board also the Grain Marketing Board (GMB),these two boards were responsible for marketing several crops.
Later on the Namboards were amalgated in 1969 Namboards were set to build more maize stock with new Silo complex constructed in Ndola, Monze and kabwe to avert maize shortages. Namboards provided farmers with a ready and guaranteed market for their produce, also it provided flexible services and its monopoly position enabled marketing costs to be kept at a minimum cost. It was also formed with the purpose of rationalizing the marketing functions with the agriculture field. By 1971 Namboard had established a number of rural buying depots for example, in chadiza in eastern province, it was realized that it was a good agriculture area Namboard developed eight (8) new rural depots due to all these developments, production kept on increasing especially from rural areas. The increase of agriculture marketing, created employment and income opportunities in the rural areas.
The government also introduced good marketing system which helped people in the rural areas to sell more produce and earn more some income. The government expanded the state crop buying stations in rural areas and there was also heavily subsidization of fertilizer to encourage its use by small scale farmers and by introducing to cooperatives to link farmers to the services provided by the marketing boards. The opening up of agriculture marketing in rural areas promoted food security as everyone had access to food. There was also an investment in infrastructure such as expansion of road networks as these would develop productive activities in rural sectors since most of these centers were within reach. Remote areas such as Lundazi, Chadiza and other provinces were opened up due to the agriculture activities that were taking place in the country.
The other strategy which the firs republican president introduced is to invest in livestock. He realized that livestock was one of the prominent feature in Zambia in terms of food security, income, employment and resource utilization. Foster (1998) adds that there is a strong demand for animal products which has important implications from the standpoints of both human nutrition and trade. after independence, the demand for beef increased and the 1st republican president introduced measures to meet the local demand, the number of veterinary services were expanded, the number of veterinary staff in rural areas was increased and also the expansion of the cold storage board of Zambia. (CSBZ) aimed at providing finances so as to increase cattle sales. The following were the measures aimed at increasing beef production among others.
Importation of beef breeds of cattle such as the Boran and Afrikander bulls to? Cross breed with the local cattle so that there is at least an improvement to the quality of local cattle breed, the CSBZ also purchased cattle from farmers and later sold the meat to the public. The CSBZ was present in all provincial centers. Ranches were also set up to encourage and popularize cattle keeping in the whole country and also offer extension services to new cattle keepers. There was also the initiating grazier schemes for farmers living close to state ranches as a way of transforming animal husbandry knowledge and encouraging cattle keeping. The farmers who kept cattle specifically for state ranches were given some animals as payment. The government also introduced credit facility for the purchase of oxen, cattle and farm implements through the Lima bank and agriculture finance company (LBAFC).
The government tried by all means to achieve its food production goal by encouraging a mixture of production farms such as the socialist farms, cooperatives, state farms, settlement schemes and parastatle enterprises that were strongly supported by others. In southern province most of the farmers were provided with loans in kind. This was meant for the farmers involved to build up their stock. “the statutory body, the cold storage Board, purchased beef and the agricultural extension services that were theoretically available to provide advice or veterinary services when required” (Baylies, 1979).
In Namwala, the government established dip tanks, spray races, dams, veterinary laboratory, trained field officers, quarantine station to regulate cattle movement and also the routine vaccination of cattle were provided at the District Office. The introduction of all these programmes improved the rearing of livestock in the country. In order to improve extension services and to have qualified personnel in agriculture farmer’s institutions were opened in each province. In these centres farmers were trained in various crops and its management and he also opened some farmers training centres in some selected districts. Later on the school of agriculture and veterinary at the University of Zambia was introduced and also the NRDC college.
In terms of crops the republican president Dr. Kenneth Kaunda introduced plantations in different provinces that is looking at the type of soil which these provinces had and then the agriculture officers were able to identify the best crop to grow in that province. For example coffee and tea companies were introduced in Northern Province, in North-Western province pineapple was introduced whilst in western province a plantation for cashew was set up. Sugar plantations were introduced and the banana plantation in Mwense and Chirundu were also introduced. The president also introduced major cash crops such as groundnuts, wheat, beans sorghum, millet, maize and sweet potatoes were targeted to increase productivity. Other major cash crops which were introduced were cotton, tobacco, soya beans and paprika. The government made sure that these crops were exported to other crops.
Despite all these effort made by the first republican president, the implementations were not a success due to different reasons. The District Veterinary offices were charging huge amounts of money in cattle certification, meat inspection, cattle levy and transport costs. There was an also insufficient and ineffective extensions service, restocking of cattle, expensive veterinary drugs, also poor management practices among traditional cattle keepers. Funding was not enough, areas of disease monitoring and surveillances decline caused an increase in cattle mortality. It was also difficult for the president to ensure that diseases outbreaks were controlled due to lack of qualified veterinary staff. The other reason why these strategies would not work out because most of the farmers were not willing to sell their animals as to them this was a sign of prestige.
Agriculture boards like The Namboards failed to work successfully because of government interventions since it was considered to be a political instrument used to achieve its political objects even impinged on the efficient operations of the board. It made no profits and government also channeled some funds for Namboards to other organizations due to all these, it became impossible for Namboard to operate efficiently because it operated under a faulty system. Kenneth Kaunda’s strategy failed to work because most of the staff in the agriculture sector were not qualified for the positions they held while others were appointed on political grounds. Officials in the agriculture sector became corrupt and started manipulating the accounts books.
With all these it resulted in inefficiency from the top administrators’ right down to the depot clerks. Instead everyone opted to white collar job and this lead to urbanisation leaving land in the rural and have no one to develop the land in the implementation of these programmes. There was misuse of fund which made some programme not to continue. Late arrival of agricultural inputs and inadequate infrastructure support contributed to the failure of the strategies which were introduced in order to reduce poverty.
