Interview: Zambia welcomes China's investment in agriculture: official

The Zambian government welcomes Chinese enterprises and individuals to invest in the country, especially in its agriculture field, said a senior official with the agricultural ministry in an interview on Thursday.

There has always been good prospects in every field including agriculture that Zambia has cooperated with China, said Richard M. Chizyuka, permanent secretary of Zambian Ministry of Agriculture and Co-operatives.

"The government has put agriculture as one of the key sectors that are supposed to be engines for its economic development," he said in an exclusive interview with Xinhua, adding that agriculture in Zambia has great promise for enhancing economic growth and reducing poverty.

However, the lack of capital and mechanisms to mitigate climatic risks, inadequate access to productive assets and infrastructure as well as low soil fertility have made Zambia lag behind other countries in agricultural development.

"The Zambian government has put in place incentives to encourage investment in the agriculture sector,"Chizyuka said.

According to the official, the general incentives include favorable measures such as provision for wear and tear of 50 percent per year for the first two years on machinery used for farming, exempt dividends tax from farming for the first five years, supplying allowance of 100 percent for expenditure on farm land, such as stumping, clearing, prevention of soil erosion, boreholes, wells, water conservation and aerial of geophysical surveys as well as some duty-free incentives.

"We do not discriminate between local investors and foreign investors," he said, investors' property rights shall be respected, and their investments would not be adversely affected by any changes in the Investment Act for a period of seven years.

"Zambia is a signatory to the Multi-Lateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) and other international agreements, this guarantees foreign investment protection in case of war, strife, disasters and other disturbances or in cases of expropriation," Chizyuka added.

Referring to the cooperation between the two countries, Chizyuka said, "the prospects for Sino-Zambia cooperation look good."

He pointed out that the two countries can cooperate in fruit as well as cassava, cashew nut and jatropha curcus production, processing and marketing.

Chinese companies can help Zambia localize production of irrigation equipment and other agricultural machinery, he said, the Zambian government and Chinese companies or government can also partner in rehabilitation and construction of storage facilities.

Chizyuka also mentioned China's aid to Zambia in educational field. He said, Zambia has dispatched many students to China, and the three-to-six-month long study is very useful.

The students, some of whom have become staff of the ministry, are playing an important role in Zambia's agriculture sector, he added.

Source: Xinhua