Private enterprise Program – PeP Coordinator Brain Ross has revealed that exports of handicrafts from developing economies in the world grew by 53% from 2002 to 2010 adding that developing economies have dominated the sector with handcrafts counting for 65% of the total world exports in the handicraft sector.
Speaking during a presentation at the consultative workshop on Art and Crafts in Zambia organized by the Private enterprise Programme – PeP on October 22, 2019 attended by the Zambian Business Times – ZBT, Ross said several converging trends indicate that demand in the artisan sector will continue to expand including consumer and company interest in sourcing locally produced artisan goods.
At the same event Ministry of Commerce, Trade and Industry Director of Foreign Trade Lillian Bwalya said there is need to develop road maps that will identify various intervals of the trade and encourage the development of art and crafts sector towards creating sustainable jobs for Zambians.
She said the market for Zambian handicraft has witnessed moderate growth due to increased interests in consumption of local cultural products among others but that despite having unique arts and crafts which are produced in the rural areas, the opportunities for exports and scaling up production has not fully been exploited.
“Zambia’s exports of handicrafts remain small due to ever changing global trends and stiff competition. The global community is constantly looking for unique art on the market hence the market has not been fully exploited due to product quality issues and the inability to scale up production,” She said. The Director has since called on the private sector’s active participation in the export market if growth is to be captured.
And Zambia Institute for Policy Analysis and Research – ZIPAR has called on the urgent need to invest is data collection for evidence-based decision making to definitively gauge the developments in the creative industries such as the arts and crafts in particular.
ZIPAR Researcher Shebo Nalishebo has stated that the sector needs to embrace innovations in ICT’s to able to, among other things use computer –aided designs for the arts and crafts. Nalishebo said there is also need to build art, crafts and antiques online platforms to enable sellers sell their products online to capture the overseas market.
