Q FM Africa's Modern Radio
ZNFU President Dr. Evelyn Nguleka
The Zambia National Farmers Union (ZNFU) has submitted its 2017 Tax and Non-Tax Proposals to Ministry of Finance for consideration and possible inclusion in the 2017 National Budget.
The ZNFU proposals are focussing on improving agricultural productivity and competiveness in the 2017 fiscal year and beyond.
The proposals include addressing the high cost of doing business, triggering and accelerating mechanization and value addition, improving extension and agricultural research services delivery; and inducing increased public and private agricultural investments.
The Union is confident that addressing the above issues would go a long way in overcoming a number of challenges that currently affect the Zambian agriculture.
The Ministry of Finance is currently receiving submissions from members of the public, private sector, and civil organizations for possible inclusion in the 2017 National Budget and 2017-2019 Medium Term Budget Plan which is scheduled to be announced in Parliament in October 2016.
Meanwhile, ZNFU President Dr. Evelyn Nguleka has assured the Tobacco Association of Zambia (TAZ) of continued support on lobbying government to exempt VAT on green leaf tobacco in order to improve competitiveness and productivity aimed stimulating investment in the subsector.
In a ZNFU Weekend Brief made available to QFM News today, Dr. Nguleka also notes that at a time when the country is struggling to diversify the economy away from copper dependency as the main foreign exchange earner, the Zambian leaf tobacco has already positioned itself as one of the subsectors that government must vigorously promote to increase forex earnings second from copper.
She has observed that with appropriate tax policy by government, the production of leaf tobacco in Zambia can be doubled.
Currently, green leaf tobacco in Zambia attracts 16% VAT which makes the crop less competitive compared to other countries in the region.