By HELEN ZULU – THE Citizens Economic Empowerment Commission (CEEC) is seeking land for construction of 10 industrial yards in the country. CEEC head of communication and public relations Glenda Masebe said the industrial yards would be built under the recently launched US$30 million Skills Development and Entrepreneurship Project-Supporting Women and Youths (SDEP-SWY). The project, which is being funded by the African Development Bank, is a Government initiative which seeks to accelerate industrialisation aimed at reducing poverty through job and wealth creation. Ms Masebe said the Commission was working towards ensuring that the local councils provided enough land where the industrial yards would be built. “We are in the process of acquiring land where we are going to build industrial yards and as such are working at ensuring that the local councils provide us with enough land,” she said. She said this at the 90th Zambia Agricultural and Commercial Show in Lusaka. Ms Masebe said the Commission had so far procured land in Eastern province and that once all the land had been bought, construction would commence. And Ms Masebe has said the Mumbwa Farmers Ginning and Pressing Company Limited (MFGP) creates 17, 000 seasonal jobs for the local people annually. The establishment of the Mumbwa ginnery was funded by the CEEC at a cost of K16 million. Ms Masebe said the ginnery had also helped motivate the small cotton farmers to engage in cotton farming as they had a ready market for their produce. She said about 1, 200 farmers were engaged and benefitting from MFGP by adding value to their produce through processing it into several by-products like cake feed for animals and cooking oil, among others. Cotton Association of Zambia (CAZ) head of gender, business and extension Aselly Mwanza said the coming on board of the MFGP had helped improve the quality of Zambian cotton, as the seed supplied by the ginnery was of high quality. Shareholders in the company include CEEC with 33 per cent shares, Zambia National Farmers Union (ZNFU) at 25 per cent shares, Mumbwa District Farmers Association with 15 per cent, and CAZ with 28 per cent shares.