LYING WITH STATISTICS
By Emmanuel Mwamba
Zambia produced 1.5 million metric tonnes of maize in 2023/2024 farming season, yet Minister of Agriculture, Mtolo Phiri told Parliament and Zambians that the Crop Forecast Survey for 2023/2024 was 3.1million metric tonnes!
Many experts and stakeholders disputed the figures noting that this was highly exagerated, especially that the country experienced the worst drought in a 100 years, chaotic and late distribution of farming inputs in areas that had good rainfall and the disconnect that characterized the season.
Now information has emerged that, infact, Zambia only produced a harvest of about 1.5million metric tonnes!
How do we trust the new Statistics in the 2025 Crop Forecast Survey indicating a bumper harvest of 3.6milliom metric tonnes, especially that the country experienced mild drought and dry periods, army worms, floods and again chaotic distribution of farming inputs?
Below is the statement from the Zambia Statistics Agency;
Zambia registers a higher maize production of 3,655,646 metric tonnes in the 2024/25 Agricultural season compared to 1,511,143 metric tonnes produced in the 2023/24 agricultural season