. Mwanakatwe

By MELBOURNE MUSHITU  and OBED LIJIMU –
GOVERNMENT has urged cooperatives not to rely on agriculture alone but venture into other sectors to enhance social economic development.
Commerce,Trade and Industry Minister Margaret Mwanakatwe said other sectors would give cooperatives an opportunity to contribute to broad-based and inclusive national development.
“Diversification is key in our development agenda and that is why Government decided to transfer the cooperative mandate to the ministry of Commerce because we want cooperatives not to rely on agriculture alone but venture into other sectors,” she said.
The minister was speaking yesterday in Lusaka at the commemoration of the International Cooperatives Day.
Ms Mwanakatwe said Government was empowering cooperatives with solar grinding mills through the Zambia Cooperative Federation (ZCF) a move which had seen the  price of mealie-meal go down.
She said Government was also in the process of preparing a national cooperative development strategy for 2017-2021 aimed at transforming cooperatives in Zambia.
Ms Mwanakatwe said the national cooperative development strategy would enable Zambians to form cooperatives across all sectors of the economy which would enable them to contribute to national development.
ZCF director general James Chirwa commended Government for the solar milling plants under the Presidential Milling Initative.
On the Copperbelt, Permanent Secretary Howard Sikwela urged cooperatives to take advantage of the environment in which they operated
Reverend Sikwela said Government was implementing various programmes that enhanced the development of cooperatives such as market improvement and innovations.
Rev Sikwela said among the programmes being implemented in which farmers had benefited were the Farmer Input Support Programme (FISP).
He said that Copperbelt had been allocated 124,924 farming inputs representing an increase of 18 per cent from the last farming season.
He urged the farmers to start preparing  in advance for the opportunities that lie ahead and also adopting a theory of value addition and innovation to the country’s produce and ways of farming methods.
He implored the farmers to move away from exporting produce such as raw tomatoes but instead start producing tomato sauce as a way of value addition.