Economist Trevor Hambayi has called on government to seriously look at factors contributing to the reduction in the export of agricultural products.
According to the Zambia statistics agency (ZAMSTATS) October monthly report, export earnings from agricultural products decreased by 17.5 percent to k2.0 billion in September 2023from k2.4 billion in august 2023. The major export commodities were other raw cane sugar accounting for 14.1 percent, tobacco, partly or wholly stemmed / stripped (12.5%) and other corn seed (10.4%).
Speaking in an exclusive interview with the Zambian business times – ZBT, Mr. Hambayi said there are a lot of cash crops that the country should be exporting that support the agriculture sector and that Zambia has the capacity to produce them in qualities needed for the export market.
Hambayi noted that government has not done enough in terms of creating a conducive environment to support all farmers and the private sector to maximize the export potential of the country.
He said that it is so unfortunate that as a country driving at export diversification, we are getting reductions in the export of agriculture products.
“We must look very seriously at what factors are contributing towards the reduction in the export of our agricultural products. But also what we do find is that there are a lot of cash crops that we should be exporting that should be supporting the agriculture sector such as soya beans, sunflower, cotton and tobacco. All these particular products that we have, we have the capacity to be able to be produce them in qualities that need the export market,” he said.
“So essentially I think as a country we have not done enough to be able to create an environment that is strong enough to support all our farmers and the private sector to be able to maximize the export potential of the country. It is very unfortunate that as a country that is driving at export diversification from the mining sector to agriculture, we find that we are getting reductions in the export of agriculture products. The second aspect that we also see is that we’ve also been experiencing a reduction in exports from the mining sector because we have not produced as much cooper during the year,” said Hambayi.
Meanwhile, Hambayi noted that Zambia would have achieved a high export of agricultural products because there was a very high demand of maize a few months ago which should have moved to the export sector.
“Technically speaking, you would have thought that in the last few months Zambia would have achieved a very high export of agricultural products because there was a very high demand of maize which we have excess surplus in terms of production which we then should have moved to the export sector. Even though we are speaking about having to be able to put strategies to be able to increase our non-traditional exports driven by the agricultural sector, the numbers are saying that we are actually progressing in terms of achieving this,” said Hambayi.
