THE US$4 million (about K20 billion) which the Government has availed in loans to the small-scale agriculture sector in rural areas is a big boost for growth in a sector that has one of the biggest potential to anchor the economic diversification programme.

The facility is also a concrete demonstration of the Government's commitment to the programme to empower citizens economically coming, as it has, on the heels of the Citizens Economic Empowerment initiative.

A larger segment of Zambia's population is located in rural areas and engaged in either small-scale or subsistence agriculture for both income generation and livelihood.

This section of the population is hard working and has contributed significantly to the national food supply needs as well as the cash crops each season commensurate, of course, with capacity limitations.

The dearth in readily available loan financing for the agriculture sector has over the years severely restricted the growth and expansion of the sector. Money from commercial lending institutions has been far and above the cost of what most of the small-scale farmers can afford.

It is in recognition of this bottleneck that the Government has put in place such measures to assist in boosting the activities of our small-scale farmers all over the country.

Seeing the manner in which the loans would be used, it is clear that other than the Government, there is need for other stakeholders to play their part in ensuring that the intended objective of the funding facility is fully realised.

In this case, specialised bodies like the Zambia National Farmers Union, National Association of Peasant and Small-Scale Farmers of Zambia and cooperative societies could weigh in by ensuring that their members are well prepared to access and effectively utilise the loans.

This can be done through sensitisation of farming communities on the obligations of borrowing and effective investment to ensure returns and repayment of the loans.

The debt repayment culture in Zambia is still weak and agriculture lending in particular has had decades of history pertaining to defaulting on loans. In some cases, it is the sheer lack of basic business know-how which is needed on the part of some farmers to enable them to prudently employ the monies borrowed and realise a return on their investment.

Unless an amount like K20 billion is nurtured to induce growth in production and induce forward and back linkages in the economy, it would not have achieved its intended objectives. After a prescribed time frame, the money which would be ploughed into the sector should be able to show a quantifiable outcome in overall growth in the sector.

This is the essence of investment and in this way, a permanent platform to sustain continued growth in the agriculture sector would have been established.