(English) December 22, 2013
BY CHATULA KAMPO
SENIOR Chief Chiwala of the Lamba-speaking people in Masaiti District has said women should be given priority in land allocation because they are the main drivers of agriculture.
The traditional leader said women in his chiefdom were being encouraged to own land and that they were given priority in land allocation.
He said it was his tradition to give land to women because they were involved in food production.
Zambia’s national land policy recognises the need to increase women’s access to land.
However, while current laws do not discriminate against women, they still lack security of tenure to land in comparison with their male counterparts.
Some interest groups have also observed that while women produce most of Zambia’s food, they are the majority of Zambia’s poor.
Chief Chiwala said offering women more land would promote food security at household level as they take a leading role in agricultural production.
“In this chiefdom, we have been giving women priority in land allocations because they are the ones who are involved in the production of crops,” he said in an interview.
The traditional leader said Heifer Zambia had empowered some women with animals while many others were benefitting from farming inputs through the Farmer Input Support Programme.
Chief Chiwala, however, said the small-scale farmers, especially those in milk production, faced challenges in finding a reliable market for their products.
He appealed to Heifer Zambia to help farmers get affiliated to milk processing companies such as Parmalat as that would help them sell their products and expand production.
Source: All Africa
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