• Be innovative and begin to manufacture machines such as irrigation equipment.
• Zambia will have an industrial revolution once it starts to produce its own goods.
• The country is losing out on the much needed Foreign Exchange due to imports .
A Consultant Researcher has called on Government to become innovative and begin to manufacture machines such as irrigation equipment for the betterment of the agriculture sector.
Speaking in an interview with Money FM News, Dr. Choolwe Beyani said Zambia can only have an industrial revolution if the country begins to manufacture its own machines and goods, instead of importing.
Dr. Beyani noted that currently, the country is losing out on the much needed Foreign Exchange because of importing almost every equipment.
He said Government should scale up the import substitution strategy which was adopted in Dr. Kenneth Kaunda’s regime to cut down on imports of manufactured goods.
“Manufacturing of essential goods is key to end importation in the country; we import cheese from South Africa, why can’t the country create a cheese manufacturing industry instead of importing,” Dr. Beyani questioned.
Dr. Beyani said it is high time Zambia started producing its own finished goods or semi-finished products and export instead of exporting raw materials.
“Imports are an expression of needs you import what you do not have and this is the biggest dilemma for all developing countries because they are from the colonial economy where you export only one major commodity and the rest they import which must not be the case,” he explained.
He added that export of finished or semi-finished products has the potential to add value to the country’s Economy.