ENERGY Minister Makozo Chikote has urged farmers affected by power issues to report directly to Zesco to facilitate timely investigations and resolutions.
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Chikote addressed concerns raised by Serenje Member of Pariament George Kandafula in the august house yesterday, who highlighted the challenges faced by farmers relying on irrigation systems due to the current daily loadshedding.
He said the three hours implemented by Zesco, negatively impacting crop yields and potentially jeopardising food security.
Kandafula also questioned whether government will urgently consider exempting these farmers from the loadshedding management and ensure continuous power supply to sustain agriculture activities.
In response, Chikote claimed that government was not aware of any farmers experiencing a three-hour daily power supply.
He clarified that farmers were indeed allocated 10hours of daily power supply under the current load management schedule, stressing that this measure was specifically intended to support critical agricultural activities, including irrigation, to safeguard food security.
The minister emphasised that any instances of farmers receiving a three-hour or less power supply per day should be treated as isolated incidents or system faults, and recommended that affected farmers promptly report these occurrences to Zesco for swift investigation and resolution:
“If there are indeed isolated instances where farmers are receiving less than three hours or less than 10 hours of power supply per day, it is crucial that these situations are reported to Zesco without delay. This will enable them to rapidly investigate the problem and ensure a timely resolution, avoiding any unnecessary disruptions to your farming operations,” Chikote advised.
Drawing attention to the existing government policy that prioritises agricultural activities in power supply scheduling, Chikote reiterated the significance of farmers being allocated 10 hours of electricity daily to support their operations and maintain the nation’s food security.
He further assured farmers that government would continue to maintain an open dialogue with them through their representative body, the Zambia National Farmers Union (ZNFU), in order to prevent potential disruptions to agricultural activities due to power supply issues.
By Sharon Zulu
Kalemba July 30, 2025
