Top news items in major Zambian media outlets

The following are news highlights in Zambia's major media outlets on Wednesday.

-- Authorities in Zambia have arrested a couple of Congolese origin in a suspected human trafficking case involving seven children in western Zambia's Sesheke district.

Western Province Police Commissioner Charles Lungu said the two were apprehended at a lodge in the early hours of Tuesday with seven children suspected to have been smuggled from the Democratic Republic of Congo into the country enroute to an unknown destination.

The couple had no papers to prove the paternity of the children aged between two and 12 years. (Times of Zambia)

-- Officials in Zambia's ministry responsible for agriculture have stepped up efforts to distribute farming inputs to farmers following a directive from President Edgar Lungu.

Farmers have not yet received seeds and fertilizers under a government subsidized program, with the Zambian leader expressing anger and giving responsible officials a one week ultimatum. (Zambia Daily Mail)

-- The Zambian government said it intends to formally write to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to request for a financing program once the 2017 national budget has been approved by parliament.

Minister of Finance Felix Mutati said the government could not engage with the IMF on any of its programs before the budget could be approved, adding that the engagement with the international financial institution would be based on the 2017 budget. (Daily Nation) Endit