INDABA ENDS, WHAT NEXT?

THE national indaba concluded its proceedings late on Sunday April 5, 2009. It recommended a range of measures including the revival of co-operative banks and zero-rating of all agricultural in-puts and machinery in order to turn Zambia into a food basket.

Reading out the resolutions to the plenary session, agriculture committee representative Chance Kabaghe said agriculture was a key for Zambia's survival during the global economic crunch. He said there was need to promote market-driven agriculture while council levies on produce should be reduced or abolished because they contributed to the high cost of food.

Mr Kabaghe said rural banks should be set up to help farmers access banking facilities while co-operative banks should be revived without involving politics. He said Government should also relax the importation and exportation of maize as long as the Food Reserve Agency (FRA) maintained enough reserves. He said an irrigation authority should also be set up to look at irrigation while tax on fuel used in farms should be removed.

After the recommendations were read out the indaba adopted them without much debate.

Mr Timothy Muchibwe read out recommendations from the tourism committee, which were also adopted. Mr Muchibwe said that the Zambia Tourism Board should be restructured and strengthened for it to effectively market Zambia to the outside world.

The indaba recommended that the implementation of the proposed tourism act should be deferred while Zambians in diaspora should be used to market the country. It said there should be incentives to promote local investment in Zambia while domestic tourists should be encouraged and tour packages should be zero-rated

The indaba agreed that more international air carriers should be encouraged to come to Zambia directly while the road network should be worked on to improve connectivity.