LUSAKA Province Minister, Lameck Mangani, has called for the development of cultural programmes in order to promote traditional heritage and originality.

Mr Mangani said at the opening of the Lusaka cultural and food festival yesterday that cultural programmes were a key driver to Zambia's economic development and cultural preservation, hence the need to promote the sector.

"We need to mitigate against the effects of the world recession and initiatives like this help us provide markets for our small to medium business and promotes income generation," Mr Mangani said.

The minister said culture was a viable sector that could create employment and earn the Government revenue through cultural tourism that included the selling of handcrafts, music and traditional ceremonies.

He said the Government had taken keen interest in supporting the cultural sector with increased support to the country's traditional ceremonies.

Mr Mangani said the Kuomboka, Nc'wala and Mutomboko ceremonies were a few of the calendar ceremonies that drew thousands of local and foreign tourists, thereby generating foreign exchange.

Provincial Permanent Secretary Stephen Bwalya said at this time when the world was facing a recession, Lusaka Province had embarked on programmes to explore other avenues that would promote small-scale businesses.

Mr Bwalya said the festival demonstrated how the Government was not taking a "backyard seat" in developmental process but finding ways to support every Zambian.

He said apart from developing the country's economy and employment creation, culture also played a significant role in identifying who the people of Zambia are.

Earlier, District Commissioner Christah Kalulu said such kind of events contributed to coordinating communities and families.