By Mubanga Mubanga
Secretary to the Treasury Felix Nkulukusa bemoaned the fact that despite the importance of agriculture, rural areas have continued to face persistent challenges over the years.
“However, despite the importance of agriculture, rural areas have faced a persistent challenge over the years: limited access to appropriate, affordable, and sustainable financial services for rural households and agricultural enterprises.
Across our rural communities, many farmers continue to struggle to access credit for productive investments,” said Nkulukusa, during the launch of Rural and Agriculture Finance strategy (RAFS) in Lusaka yesterday. “Many small enterprises lack the financial resources needed to expand their operations. Access to agricultural insurance remains limited. Savings products are often inaccessible, while investment in rural value chains remains below potential. These challenges have constrained productivity, limited commercialization, and slowed economic transformation in many parts of our country.”
And Ministry of Agriculture permanent secretary John Mulongoti said agriculture was one of the most important sectors of the Zambian economy at it employed a large proportion of the population.
“Agriculture remains one of the most important sectors of our economy. It employs a large proportion of our population, supports rural livelihood, contributes to national food security, and provides raw materials for industry. However, agricultural transformation cannot be achieved without adequate investment,” Mulongoti said.
“Farmers require access to quality seed, fertiliser, irrigation equipment, mechanisation, storage facilities, processing technology and markets. All these requirements depend to a large extent on availability of appropriate and affordable financial services.“
Mulongoti said the Ministry of Agriculture was pleased to work closely with the Ministry of Finance and National Planning in the development of RAFS.
“Our collaboration reflected a shared understanding that agriculture development and financial inclusion are mutually reinforcing objectives. In recognition of the importance of this strategy, the Ministry of Agriculture was honoured to co-sponsor the cabinet memorandum that facilitated its approval by cabinet,” Mulongoti said. “This joint approach underscores the fact that rural and agriculture finance is not the responsibility of a single institution. It requires a whole government approach that brings together policymakers, regulators, financial institutions, development partners, the private sector and farmer organizations. We are particularly pleased that RAFS has been designed as an overreaching national framework for rural and agriculture finance.”
And Ministry of Finance and National Planning permanent secretary Mulele Mulele said the reforms the government had implemented which were aimed at deepening financial inclusion and expanding access to financial services, had yielded positive results.
“Over the years, the government has implemented a number of reforms aimed at deepening financial inclusion and expanding access to financial services across the country. These efforts have yielded positive results. However, we also recognise that access to finance remains uneven, particularly in rural areas where the majority of our citizens derive their livelihood from agriculture and related economic activities,” said Mulele. “The development of this strategy was informed by a clear understanding that financial inclusion must be extended beyond numbers and statistics. It must result in real opportunities for farmers to invest in productive activities.”
