NUSFAZ: ‘Irrigation farming will boost small-scale farmers’
The National Union for Small-scale Farmers Association of Zambia (NUSFAZ) has called on financial institutions to create products that will enable small-scale farmers access finance to venture into irrigation farming.
NUSFAZ president Frank Kayula said it is unfortunate that most small-scale farmers are unable to venture into irrigation farming due to lack of financial support.Dr Kayula said in an interview that most products being offered by financial institutions are suitable for commercial farmers, but are affordable for most small-scale farmers.
He said despite small-scale farmers being the major food producers in the country, they still remain vulnerable to climate-related shocks due to the country’s reliance on rain-fed agricultural production systems.
“With the current climatic challenges, farmers need other sources of water to continue growing crops and stop depending on rain."
CIFOR