JULIET MAKWAMA writes
@SunZambian
EFFORTS to place the agriculture sector as an economic booster need to be accelerated to foster continued national development, says economic consultant Manasseh Suwila.
Mr Suwila said it was clear that the mining industry currently needed to be rearranged for Zambians to continue benefiting from it by first implementing a better mining policy.
“Zambia needs to seriously adopt agriculture as a way to boost national development,” he said
Mr Suwila said there would be need to ensure that the school curriculum adequately dealt with changing the mind-set among young Zambians to venture into agriculture, and not wait for white collar jobs.
“I am aware that government is doing everything possible to ensure Zambians benefit from the mining sector, but what we really need to do is improve our agriculture standing starting with the school curriculum,” he said.
Mr Suwila said government needed to come with a holistic mining policy to resolve the long-standing concerns about Zambians not benefiting from the sector.
“We have promised ourselves to improve our economy and until we have a good mining policy in place, let’s accelerate efforts to boost agriculture and give the sector its rightful place in enhancing national development,” Mr Suwila said.
He said young people needed to be involved in the agenda to transform the economy through agriculture.
“In order to actualize what is on paper regarding the diversification agenda, young people need to be brought on board for them to understand their key role,
“For us as a country, our concentration should so much be on agriculture while emphasizing the need to focus on different crops and not just only maize,” Mr Suwila said.
