Meeting with H.E. Chikote Makozo, Minister of Fisheries and Livestock of Zambia

Rabat - FAO Director-General QU Dongyu met today in Rabat with His Excellency, Chikote Makozo, Minister of Fisheries and Livestock of Zambia, on the margins of the 33rd Session of the FAO Regional Conference for Africa (ARC33).

The Minister thanked the Director-General for the support extended to the people of Zambia through various cooperation efforts across the country. He stated that due to climate change Zambia is facing serious drought which has adversely affected multitudes of smallholder farmersand rural populations. 

The Minister stated that the government has developed a National Plan to mitigate the adverse effects of the climatic shocks which have caused great challenges for food security. The Minister further informed that they were working on several interventions and strategies to deal with pastoral land loss, diseases, water management and food insecurity, among others.

The Director-General reaffirmed FAO’s commitment to assist Zambia with water management cooperation and modern interventions, to harvest water during periods of rainfall and production of drought resistant crops. He also encouraged Zambia to move away from rain fed agriculture and explore more modern technologies.

The Director-General further advised Zambia to focus on improving national land use to avoid drought created problems, and to rather reassign and redesign land use to be fit for purpose with today’s current and emerging challenges. He also advised the government to join the FAO Green Cities Initiatives, especially the land projects, as well as participating in the Hand-in-Hand Initiative to tap into Zambia’s huge potential and attract the needed investors.

The Director-General reaffirmed FAO was ready and committed to assist Zambia with all thetechnical support needed, especially to improve food security and for the transformation of its agrifood system.