• Agriculture and agribusiness contribute around 20 percent of GDP.
• There’s need for increased funding towards research and development.
• EBA report indicators show that Zambia is ranked number 3 out of 28 Sub Saharan countries.

Policy Monitoring and Research Center (PMRC) has urged Government to continue providing a conducive environment for increased private sector investment in the Agriculture sector.
Organization Executive Director Bernadette Zulu told Money FM News that this is because Agriculture and agribusiness play an important role in the country’s economy, contributing around 20 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in recent years and about 12 percent of national export earnings.
Ms. Zulu further called for increased funding towards research and development in the sector which will capacitate the research institutions to carry out research and experiments in a timely manner.
“The private sector has played a minimal role in financing the agricultural sector in form of loans for Greenfield investments, as majority of the lending goes toward financing big commercial farms. Access to finance for small scale farmers recently improved with recent initiatives by Zambia National Commercial Bank’s Lima Credit in collaboration with the Zambia National Farmers’ Union (ZNFU).
“Therefore, Government is urged to continue providing a conducive environment for increased private sector investment within the sector. There is also need for increased funding towards research and development as well as extension services, to enable the country to score in all the indicators of the Enabling Business of Agriculture (EBA) report,” Ms. Zulu said.
She also stressed the need for government to expedite the establishment of the tractor assembly in order to improve the use of farm machinery especially by small scale farmers.
Ms. Zulu observed that the use of farm machinery, plant protection and food trading is critical for a successful agricultural sector.
Meanwhile, Ms. Zulu noted that the Enabling Business of Agriculture (EBA) report indicators show that Zambia is ranked number 3 out of 28 countries in Sub Saharan Africa in design and implementation regulations as well as processes that promote an enabling environment for farmers to thrive.
She said the aspect of food trading is therefore important as the country strives to grow the contribution of the sector to the national GDP.
“The EBA report has eight quantitative indicators which include; supplying seed, registering fertilizer, securing water, registering machinery, sustaining livestock, protecting plant health, trading food, and accessing finance. The report shows that Zambia scored well in five of these indicators, which included; the availability of seed, access to fertilizer, availability of water resources, plant protection and access to finance.”
“Despite the tight fiscal space from the ongoing debt repayments, the Government has continued to fund the agricultural sector. In the 2021 national budget there was a 6.7% increase in the budget allocation towards the agricultural sector.”
She further observed an improvement in the use of improved seed by farmers for the period 2002 to 2019.
Ms. Zulu stated that there has been substantial improvement by households using the improved maize seed from 54% to 70%, attributed partly to the liberalization of the seed subsector.