FOR Zambia, the next chapter of economic development may ultimately be determined by one question: how much can the country produce, and how much value can it create from what it produces?
This is the thinking that sits beneath the production targets contained in the 10-10-5-3-3-1-1-1 growth agenda.
At face value, the targets appear sector-specific. Ten million tonnes of maize, three million tonnes of soya beans, one million tonnes of wheat and sugar, three million tonnes of copper and more than US$1 billion in annual livestock exports.
But taken together, they communicate a much broader policy ambition: to expand Zambia’s productive capacity and reduce the structural constraints that prevent economic activity from generating sufficient jobs, incomes and domestic value.
For decades, Zambia’s economy has faced a familiar contradiction. The country possesses substantial land, mineral resources, water, energy potential and a strategic geographical position, yet these assets have not consistently translated into broad-based economic prosperity.
The challenge, therefore, is not simply a lack of resources. It is the capacity to convert resources into productive economic activity.
Agriculture provides perhaps the clearest illustration.
A target of 10 million tonnes of maize should not be interpreted simply as a food production objective. It creates the possibility of a much larger agricultural-industrial ecosystem. More maize and soya can support animal feed production, poultry, dairy, beef, aquaculture and food processing. These activities, in turn, create demand for transport, storage, packaging, machinery, finance and professional services.
This is how production becomes an engine of growth.
The same principle applies beyond agriculture. Higher copper production can stimulate demand for mining services, engineering, logistics and manufacturing. Tourism can generate activity across accommodation, transport, hospitality, culture and entertainment.
The policy significance is therefore found in the linkages between sectors.
This is an important shift in how Zambia should think about economic growth.
It is not enough to extract a mineral, harvest a crop or receive a tourist. The greater opportunity is to build businesses and industries around those activities so that the economic value generated circulates more extensively within the domestic economy.
That is where productivity becomes critical.
Producing more does not necessarily mean becoming more productive. Zambia could expand agricultural acreage, for example, without achieving the efficiency required to remain competitive. Sustainable growth requires higher yields, better technology, improved infrastructure, access to finance, skills and functioning markets.
The Government’s growth framework recognises this relationship by placing investment and productivity alongside structural transformation as central pillars of the next phase of economic development.
For the citizen, the distinction matters.
An economy that produces more should ideally create more opportunities to work, trade, invest and earn. A productive agriculture sector should create opportunities beyond the farm gate. A growing mining sector should create domestic supplier industries. A growing tourism sector should benefit businesses beyond the hotel lobby.
This is ultimately what makes the production agenda consequential.
The objective cannot simply be to produce more tonnes.
It must be to create more economic value from every tonne produced.
That is the point at which production stops being a statistic and becomes economic transformation.
The author is a public policy communications expert. Email: lmwangwewo@gmail.com
