Q FM Africa's Modern Radio
Government has been challenged to state clearly how it intends to diversify the economy from being copper dependent to agriculture with the meagre allocation to the sector in the 2016 National Budget.
Some of opposition political parties have told QFM News it is not possible to go the agriculture way when government has only allocated 7 percent of the 2016 national budget to the agriculture sector.
Forum for Democracy and Development Spokesperson Antonio Mwanza has wondered how government intends to use agriculture as the vehicle for diversification when the allocation to the sector in the 2016 budget falls short of the Maputo Declaration of allocating not less than 10 percent of the total budget to the agriculture sector.
Mr. Mwanza says pronouncements of such nature should be accompanied with supportive workable policies, adding that with the 2016 budgetary allocation, the pronouncement will not impact positively on the agriculture sector.
And MMD Spokesperson Raphael Nakachinda says the PF government should walk the talk on this aspect instead of giving lip-service to the Zambian people.
Mr. Nakachinda says if PF government is serious with diversifying the economy through agriculture sector, they should have considered allocating more money to the sector.
Speaking in a separate phone interview, UPND Deputy Spokesperson Edwin Lifwekelo has advised the PF Government to pay attention to expert advice given to them on how best the country can diversify the economy.
Mr. Lifwekelo wonders how possible it will be to diversify the economy when the price of farming inputs in the country is way too high for farmers to afford.
He adds that the PF government’s agriculture policies do NOT ENCOURAGE farmers to produce more.