Off the wire
• China Focus: China's reform makes steady strides through 30 key meetings  • China homebuilders see record-high auctioned land price: report  • Urgent: Syrian army captures strategic neighborhood in Aleppo  • FMs discuss NATO's adaptation to security challenges, EU-NATO cooperation  • Poll: Hollande's popularity up after ruling out second term  • Alipay is coming to Santa Claus Village  • Syria rejects truce with rebels in Aleppo city  • Roundup: Eurogroup allows Cyprus to proceed with budget approval  • Greek court OKs extradition of three Turkish military officers  • China develops non-toxic propellant for orbiting satellites  
You are here: 　 Home

Interview: Zambia seeks to deepen relations with China in agriculture sector

Xinhua, December 6, 2016 Adjust font size:

A top Zambian government official said on Tuesday that the government will aggressively cooperate with China in boosting and making the agricultural sector as the epicenter of the economy.

"In Zambia, we have farmers but they need the right tools, the right equipment and so we need China to work with us closely in order to accentuate our potential in order to answer the demand not only of Zambia but also of the region in terms of agriculture," Harry Kalaba, the country's Minister of Foreign Affairs said in an interview with Xinhua.

The government, he said, has decided to prioritize the agricultural sector as the main driver of the country's economy after the fluctuation of copper prices on the international marketing, adding that China's technological advancement in agriculture will help unlock the potential.

"Zambia has been a mono-economy from the time that we got our independence to date. So we are now diversifying and the main area where we are diversifying is agriculture," he added.

According to him, Chinese investors may take advantage of not only the country's good climate but the huge market as Zambia is surrounded by eight neighboring countries and has easy access to the Great Lakes Region, with a combined population of 920 million people.

The Zambian minister pointed out that the government was committed to working with Chinese firms such as Zambia Jihai agriculture company (Jihai) in developing the agriculture sector, adding that it will support the firm's plans to set up an Agriculture Demonstration Center.

"With China Jihai working closely with our government we intend to see agriculture go up, we intend to see small-scale farmers trained, we intend to see production levels increase, we also intend to see production levels increase and also to see that mechanized agriculture will be pursued," he said.

He added that Chinese firms would help Zambia become a center of excellence in the agriculture sector, and urged more Chinese companies to invest in the sector .

Last Friday, President Edgar Lungu said his government has prioritized the agricultural sector as an engine of economic growth and job creation because it was a renewable sector unlike the mining industry.

He said his government will pour in more resources in the sector to boost production.

Zambia Jihai agriculture company is a comprehensive agricultural company, which is a subsidiary of Jihai Agriculture Investment and Development Group, established in Zambia China Economic Cooperation Zone in 2013. Endit