Chief urges support for grow Zambia agenda
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Top StoriesHouse of Chiefs Chairperson, Chief Bunda Bunda has urged traditional leaders to take an active role in mobilising their communities and identifying local economic opportunities to support the implementation of the Grow Zambia agenda. Chief Bunda Bunda said traditional leaders…
House of Chiefs Chairperson, Chief Bunda Bunda has urged traditional leaders to take an active role in mobilising their communities and identifying local economic opportunities to support the implementation of the Grow Zambia agenda.
Chief Bunda Bunda said traditional leaders should sensitise their chiefdoms about the national development programme and encourage them to participate in achieving its targets, particularly in agriculture and other productive sectors.
“Chiefs can do a lot in terms of sensitising the subjects over the Grow Zambia Agenda, therefore, we have to act as champions of the Grow Zambia Agenda so that our people would know what the Grow Zambia Agenda is all about,” he said.
Chief Bunda said traditional leaders should work with their communities to identify the economic potential of their respective chiefdoms including opportunities in agriculture, mining and renewable energy, adding that engagement with relevant government ministries to support such initiatives is key.
He has called for strengthened consultation between government and traditional authorities at Provincial, District and constituency levels to ensure closer collaboration in implementing the agenda.
However, he has noted that traditional leaders and their communities need to identify and prioritise opportunities that could be achieved within their areas.
Meanwhile, Chief Madzimawe of the Ngoni people in Kasenengwa Chiefdom has said that traditional leaders should encourage their communities to produce crops that can support industries established in their areas.
He said chiefdoms should first identify the crops and raw materials they can produce in sufficient quantities before calling for investment in processing industries.
“If we want to call on the government, we must be prepared to meet the demand because we cannot have this pineapple processing plant being set up in the chiefdom when no one grows pineapples,” Chief Madzimawe said.
He has urged traditional leaders to encourage irrigation farming and crop diversification instead of relying solely on rain-fed agriculture.
Chief Madzimawe noted that establishing local processing industries for crops such as soyabeans, tomatoes and mangoes can create markets for farmers and promote value addition within communities.
He said traditional leaders, religious leaders and elected community leaders should engage their people on how they can position themselves to benefit from the Grow Zambia agenda.
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