ECL right on value addition
Written by Millennium on August 4, 2019
PRESIDENT Edgar Lungu has a point in stating that value addition plays a key role in the industrialization agenda of any given country like Zambia.
And having toured the standards at the on-going 93rd Agriculture and commercial show in Lusaka, I think we are on the right path to attain industrialization.
It is true that our diversification programme, to move Zambia away from the copper dependence is also on course as farmers across Zambia appear more than eager to consider switching to other crops, from the traditional maize crop.
In fact if we seriously turn to nutritious crops such as cassava and yam among others, even the price of mealie meal will come down because there will be less demand for it and consequently we will have defeated the mealie cartels in our land.
In fact I hear that maize is actually a staple for Africa. It was brought for the Portuguese mainly as livestock feed.
Africa is supposed to eating cassava, millet, finger millet, yams, sorghum and sweet potatoes to mention a few crops.
It also shocks me that Zambia is still importing cornflakes when she is a net grower of the crop.
This is what President Lungu was referring to, adding value to our products. The true picture should have been Zambia being one of the major exporters of cornflakes.
