• WORLD Bank Zambia country manager Ina Ruthenberg (gesturing) with lead agriculture economist William Janssen (left) before the Parliamentary Committee on Budget Estimates at Parliament Buildings in Lusaka yesterday. Picture by ROYD SIBAJENE/ZANIS

By CHILA NAMAIKO –
WORLD Bank country manager Ina-Marlene Ruthenberg has said agriculture is a significant sector that needs concerted support to not only be used for economic diversification, but as a poverty reduction tool.
Ms Ruthenberg said despite Zambia making positive strides in its economic diversification agenda from mining to agriculture, there was need for increased investment in agriculture to reduce poverty among citizens.
Ms Ruthenberg said this when she led her team, which appeared before the Parliamentary Committee on Budget Estimates in Lusaka yesterday.
World Bank lead agriculture economist Willen Janssen was happy that Zambia was recording satisfactory progress in the agriculture sector development programme.
Mr Janssen, however, called on the Government to limit the Farmer Input Support Programme (FISP) to about three years in order to allow farmers to subsequently graduate from the system.
He said that despite increased budget support towards agriculture, FISP and the Food Reserve Agency (FRA) had dominated the support, expressing worry that FISP beneficiaries were not benefiting from the programme.
World Bank senior economist Gregory Smith called for increased investment in infrastructure if the country was to continue growing and the need to ensure public investments were well selected, designed and implemented at good cost.
Dr Smith commended the Government for protecting the health and education sector which he said were significant for the development of the country.
He, however, expressed worry about non-performing loans by some commercial banks, which meant that business houses were struggling to pay back their loans.