North West chamber urges members to go farming

Fri, 23 Dec 2016 08:32:45 +0000

By JACK MAPAPAYI

 THE North Western Chamber of Commerce and Industry has urged its members in the region not to depend on the mining industry but diversify in other sectors such as agriculture, tourism, manufacturing and construction.

Speaking during the annual general meeting, chamber president Josephine Makonde said people should not rely on the mining industry although 70 percent of the country’s foreign exchange earnings came from the sector.

She said there were very few individuals in the region that were engaged in farming, hence the need for the people to take up the challenge.

Ms Makonde said that Government had emphasised on the need for every Zambian to diversify and move into agriculture.

“There are various opportunities Government has initiated of which we as members of this chamber can benefit from if we engaged ourselves in such initiatives,” she said.

She said by 2050 about 9 billion people in the world will need to be fed and that the whole world was looking up to Africa to feed that world population.

‘‘So if we don’t expand the agriculture sector we are not going to manage to satisfy the market if we don’t involve ourselves in agricultural programmes,” she said.

She said every business minded person should take advantage of the goat market in Saudi Arabia because that country needed about 2 million goats per month.

“All these are programmes Government is initiating so that the business community can benefit. So it’s up to each one of us to take advantage of such opportunities,” she said.

Meanwhile, Ms Makonde has been re-elected chamber president after going through unopposed.

Others that went through unopposed were her three vice presidents for services Kayula Lombanya, for trade and commerce, Edgar Makaliki, for industry and manufacturing Mukumbi Kafuta.