By HELEN ZULU –
THE Dairy Association of Zambia (DAZ) has called on Government to introduce export levy for maize bran to check the current rampant export of the product.
DAZ executive manager Jeremiah Kasalo said the move would help the local industry to have a readily available product use locally.
He said this at the on-going 90th Zambia Agriculture and Commercial Show in Lusaka yesterday.
He said that doing that would enable the Government to generate some revenue while safeguarding the local industry.
He said the association had submitted its tax and non-tax proposals to the Ministry of Finance for consideration and possible inclusion in the 2017 National Budget.
Mr Kasalo said the proposals were focusing on improving the dairy sector by encouraging the Government to introduce an export levy which will enable the local industry to have a readily available product as it would be expensive to export.
“2015 has been a challenging year for the dairy industry because of the economic challenges that the country has been faced with, these challenges emanate from the high cost of production due to high interest rates, high cost of inputs such as maize bran.
“We are trying to be proactive by lobbying Government on issues relating to policy, we have made our submissions to Government for the 2017 National budget where we are encouraging to introduce an export levy which will enable the local industry to have a readily available product as it would be expensive to export,” Mr Kasalo said.
He said the Government should regulate the imports of dairy products that come into the country saying some products could be produced or processed locally.
Mr Kasolo said that some local companies like Pamalat could produce long life milk and supply sufficient stocks to the nation.
He said there was need to resuscitate the sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) committee through which the industry could be able to indicate which products could be allowed to be imported into the country.
“We believe that if these proposals are considered by Government, the dairy industry will be able to register growth going forward,” Mr Kasalo said.