Fri, 31 Mar 2017 12:17:21 +0000 By BENNIE MUNDANDO COMMERCE, Trade and Industry permanent secretary Kayula Siame is a threat to Government’s diversification drive and should immediately resign before she plunges the agriculture sector into more problems, the Zambia National Farmers’ Union (ZNFU) has charged. Early this month, Ministry of Agriculture permanent secretary Julius Shawa announced Government’s ban on the importation of some fruits and vegetables to promote local production and growth of the market for local farmers. Mr. Shawa said the country had capacity to produce and constantly supply fruits and vegetables to satisfy local demand and named the banned agricultural produce as tomatoes, onions, carrots, mangoes, potatoes, pineapples, lemons and watermelons. But last week, Ms. Siame announced the reversal of the ban, saying Zambia was a signatory to binding trade protocols in the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) and that a ban should have been accompanied by a […]
