NORTHWEST CHAMBER WELCOMES POTATO, ONION IMPORT BAN

…with 1,000 village chickens

THE Chamber of Commerce and Industry in North western province has welcomed the move by government to ban the importation of potatoes and onion into the country.

Chamber president, Mukumbi Kafuta, said the move was commendable and should be extended to other products such as rice.

Mr Kafuta states that economic diversification from mining to agriculture could only be actualised when Government starts empowering local farmers.

“It’s time we started walking the talk, and as a chamber, we expect the current ban to remain permanent because Zambians must be put first when it comes to empowerment. There can be no better empowerment like the move taken by Government,” Mr Kafuta said.

He proposed that the Ministry of Agriculture should come up with a strategy on how Zambia would maximize the production of every other consumable crop in order to meet the demand.

Mr Kafuta advised Government to strengthen monitoring mechanisms and ensure that banned products were not sneaked into the country.

He said the chamber work hand in hand with the Ministry of Agriculture to ensure that high quality production of onions, potatoes and rice on a commercial basis in order to meet the local demand.

“And in case of any shortages at some point, there should be no need to panic but encourage more production by local farmers because this is the only way the country will begin to have true statistics on required quantities to gain mastery on production patterns,” he added.

Mr Kafuta however indicated that the ban should not only be based on whether the country was able to meet the demand at the moment, but rather aim at creating ready market for local producers who desperately need to create jobs and wealth via local value chains.

OVER 400 women from different parts of Bwana Mkubwa constituency in

Ndola have been empowered with 1,000 village chickens, feed and incubators.

Leaving No One Behind Foundation empowered the woman with the chicks and gave them some money to help them as they start to look after the chicks.

Foundation chairman, Warren Mwambazi, said his organization was committed to uplifting the living standards of the people, especially the women and youths.

He appealed to women to ensure that the chicks were ell looked after so that they could become fully-fledged village chicken, which they could sell and realize reasonable income.

The village chickens, he said, would enable the beneficiaries realize sufficient money to re-invest in the business so that the trade was sustainable.

Mr Mwambazi said his foundation ensured an equal representation of women groups from all the parts of Bwana Mkubwa constituency so that that no one is left behind.

“Last week we empowered marketeers with K200,000 cash in all the 10 markets of the constituency. This empowerment is in line with Governments effort to support businesses that are not doing so well in the new normal,” he said.

15 Mr Mwambazi, who is also seeking on the Patriotic Front (PF) ticket in Bwana Mkubwa, over 1,000 traders, including those at Ndeke Market, had benefitted from the K200,000 revolving fund.

He appealed to beneficiaries to utilize the revolving fund for the intended purpose so that many other marketeers could also benefit.