By MAIMBOLWA MULIKELELA –

THE Zambia Cooperatives Federation (ZCF) plans to procure a fleet of 50 trucks at a cost of US$ 3.5 million to setup a commercial haulage unit as part of its sustainability plan.
ZCF director general James Chirwa said the cooperative had so far procured eight trucks at a cost of K2.5 million.
Mr Chirwa said the ZCF had embarked on the recapitalisation programme aimed at ensuring self sustainability to support the growth of the agriculture sector.
“We have embarked on the recapitalisation programme of some units and one of our major income units is the transport section and we are proud to let you know that we have acquired about eight haulage trucks which are now transporting goods across the country,” he said.
Mr Chirwa said in an interview that according to ZCF strategic plan, it envisaged buying a fleet of 41 trucks.
He said that the resources used to procure the trucks were given as a grant from the Government.
Last year, the ZCF received a capacity building grant of K4 million from the Government for logistical support towards the recapitalisation of the ZCF embarked on in 2011.
He said the ZCF’s mandate was to promote the development of cooperatives or enterprises in Zambia.
‘We only managed to receive 15 per cent of the amount that we had budgeted for and we managed to buy eight trucks and 15 utility vehicles to make us mobile because we did not have anything,” Mr Chirwa said.
He said the vehicles had been distributed to cooperatives in all the provinces to kick-start the sensitisation programmes on the cooperative recapitalisation fund.
He noted that the five-year strategic plan launched in 2011 was an indication of how serious and focused the cooperatives were in Zambia.