Q FM Africa's Modern Radio
Zambia Export Growers Association (ZEGA) president Luke Mbewe has called on government to amend the taxation on import duty and value added tax in order to help the industry become competitive on the international market.
Mr. Mbewe has told Q-News that the export industry in Zambia has been subjected to a lot of taxes which is not the case in other countries.
He says this has resulted in Zambia being uncompetitive even against African countries like Kenya, Zimbabwe and South Africa.
Mr. Mbewe states that as a result, the industry has not been recording new investment leading to a reduction in foreign investment.
He adds that the industry has in the recent years recorded reduced foreign exchange earnings from 60 million United States dollars to about 25 million Unites States dollars per year.
Mr Mbewe has since stated that it will be prudent for government to quickly consider relooking at issues to do with taxation for export growers before the industry collapses.