FISP needs reform, says Chileshe
FISP needs reform, says ChilesheBy Masuzyo Chakwe
Tue 14 Feb. 2012, 12:59 CAT
THE Farmer Input Support Programme still needs reform, says a business consultant. Lawrence Chileshe, who is also former Chamber of Mines in Zambia assistant general manager, said the country cannot go on funding the same famers with fertiliser and seed.
Chileshe said these farmers needed to graduate so that their farming become proper businesses that are self-sustaining.
"We need to establish a proper revolving fund rather than allowing the FISP to be
manipulated by politicians during their election campaigns. We have noted and commend the PF government for increasing funding to the agriculture sector, but the FISP programme still needs reforming," he said.
Chileshe, however, said it was disappointing that the PF government did not include short-term economic incentives to selected sectors in the 2012 national budget.
"It was expected that the PF government would provide short-term (immediate) incentives such as temporary tax relief on selected sectors. It is therefore worrisome that the government set a high growth rate of seven percent without immediate economic measures. How are we going to achieve the seven percent economic growth in 2012? There are no measures in place to achieve such an ambitious target. We have left achieving this target to chance and may only achieve this if, hopefully, mining and construction sectors experience a big boom in 2012. This is more of wishful thinking rather than being prudent," he said.
Chileshe said any country had short-term and long-term economic measures.
He said it had been the practice in Zambia to use the annual national budget in undertaking or implementing short-term economic measures.
Chileshe said such measures were usually used to address a particular issue in the economy or in a particular sector.
"For example, after the MMD took over power in 1991, one of the issues the then government sought to address was the shortage of public transport, especially in the cities. This was a ‘huge' problem that affected productivity and made life more difficult. The MMD government in the following national budgets introduced a tax incentive, allowing transport operators to import their buses tax free. This has changed the situation and the transport sector has never been the same," Chileshe said.
He said in a similar manner, the people were expecting the PF government to introduce certain incentives for specific economic sectors, in the short term.
"However, we have not seen the PF government including short-term economic incentives in the 2012 budget. I was expecting incentives in sectors like manufacturing, which has been ignored for years. Zambia Association of Manufacturing, for years now, has been advocating for incentives in the manufacturing sector, to propel increased investment and attract the establishment of value addition facilities. We were expecting measures such as tax incentives in this sector, which could be tax relief or exemption and reduction of corporate tax in the sector," Chileshe said.
He said another sector where immediate incentives were expected was tourism as it had great potential for growth.
Chileshe said information communication and telecommunication (ICT) was another sector which had contributed to the rapid economic growth of many countries.
He cited Mauritius, Rwanda and Singapore that have experienced great growth because their governments had made ICT as a priority sector.
"Can't we learn from these countries? Has the PF government prioritised ICT in the 2012 national budget?" he asked.
Chileshe said the quality of the 2012 national budget left many economic and business commentators concerned, although the atmosphere was that the PF was being given chance to settle in government and hopefully give the country a better budget for 2013.
"Though sadly, such an action is a loss of 12 months of potential growth. We now wonder if we concentrated more on ensuring that the elections are not rigged by the MMD, and forgot to formulate sound short-term (immediate) economic measures to be implemented the moment PF wins in the 2011 tripartite general elections," said Chileshe.
Labels: FISP, LAWRENCE CHILESHE
posted by MrK @ 3:59 PM
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