Farmers Union: Appointment Of Dora Siliya As Agric Minister Is Surprising

DORA Siliya’s appointment as agriculture minister is “extremely surprising” and shocking given her lack of experience in the sector, says National Union for Small-Scale Farmers of Zambia director-general Dr Frank Kayula.
Reacting to President Edgar Lungu’s appointment of Siliya as agriculture minister on Monday, Dr Kayula said while he was glad to see a woman head the Ministry of Agriculture, he found the move as extremely surprising and shocking given her inexperience in the agriculture sector.
“It was an extreme surprise because we were anticipating that she would be given leave; there are others who have some agricultural background within the portfolio of MPs that PF has. And when we were given Dora, we were shocked! We thought Dora would sit well in the Ministry of Information and the like,” Dr Kayula said in an interview on Tuesday.
He, however, hoped Siliya would adopt a consultative approach in order to grow the sector.
“The agricultural sector is very big, diverse and very important. And to make decisions in the sector, we need not delay because a loss of one year, six months will have a great impact. The only hope we have at the moment is that she is quite forceful and we hope she would use that together with consultation,” said Dr Kayula.
“We are just waiting to see how she is going to perform. This one, we have not had experience with her in that regard. The only solace is that she is working at policy level, and at policy level, you may have somebody who may not really know the sector; if she doesn’t consult, it may be a disaster. But if she consults, she will be very successful.”