Zambia’s ambitious Grow Zambia Agenda requires a science-based approach, supported by the implementation of the country’s validated 2022 National Biotechnology and Biosafety Policy, to achieve its agricultural and economic targets.
However, an expert has warned that negative public perceptions and persistent anti-GMO narratives could undermine the country’s agricultural ambitions.
The Grow Zambia Agenda is President Hakainde Hichilema’s second-term economic and development plan aimed at accelerating production-led growth.
Launched in September 2026 during his inauguration, the agenda shifts the country’s focus from post-debt macroeconomic stabilisation to accelerated production and economic expansion.
Its framework, dubbed the “10-10-5-3-3-1-1-1” agenda, sets eight measurable targets for 2031 across the energy, agriculture, tourism, mining and livestock sectors.
The targets include generating 10,000 megawatts of electricity, producing 10 million tonnes of maize, attracting five million tourist arrivals, producing three million tonnes of copper, and achieving three million tonnes of soya beans, one million tonnes of wheat, one million tonnes of sugar and US$1 billion in beef exports.
However, the National Biosafety Authority (NBA) has warned that Zambia risks missing its agricultural targets unless science, research and development are prioritised to improve productivity.
Biotechnology critical to achieving agricultural targets
The NBA’s Head of Standards and Technical Liaison, Christopher Simuntala, said achieving the targets would depend largely on improving agricultural productivity and crop yields.
He stressed that implementing the country’s validated 2022 National Biotechnology and Biosafety Policy was crucial to advancing agricultural research and promoting the responsible application of biotechnology.
“For production to increase, we cannot rule out biotechnology,” Simuntala said.
He explained that the existing policy had established the NBA and provided a regulatory framework for genetically modified organisms (GMOs). However, he said biotechnology, including advances in gene science, would be essential to achieving the country’s new economic targets.
Using soya beans as an example, Simuntala, a biotechnology expert and researcher, said production had remained constrained for years by several challenges, including crop diseases.
“Certain factors have failed us, particularly diseases like rust. If we want to scale up soya beans production to the three-million-tonne target, we need a solution to the rust problem. Biotechnology applications that resist this disease will be vital,” he said.
For maize, Simuntala highlighted the need for crop varieties capable of withstanding specific pests and climate-related challenges.
Such varieties, he said, could be developed through conventional breeding, genetic modification or genetic engineering.
The livestock sector also faces significant challenges, particularly in controlling animal diseases.
Simuntala argued that achieving the target of US$1 billion in beef exports would require more rapid development of vaccines to contain devastating cattle diseases.
“When you use biotechnology to develop vaccines, it is much faster. It won’t take 10 years; we can develop vaccines within a short period to contain sudden outbreaks,” he said.
He added that biotechnology was essential to improving crop varieties and animal breeds, while reaffirming the NBA’s commitment to providing a safe and enabling environment for biotechnology research and protecting the environment.
DSaT calls for stronger science communication
Meanwhile, the Dziwa Science and Technology Trust (DSaT), an organisation that promotes science advocacy, has warned that the Grow Zambia Agenda cannot succeed without effective communication and public engagement.
DSaT Founder and Chief Executive, Veronica Mwaba, said stronger collaboration across sectors was urgently needed to bring key stakeholders and value-chain actors onto a common platform.
She said such engagement would help build collaboration around the science, research and innovation required to achieve the government’s ambitious targets.
“The targets set by the President—such as 10 million tonnes of maize and 10,000 megawatts of power—beg the question: what is the science behind it?” Mwaba said.
“For us, it is about the ‘how’.”
She stressed that scientists would play a critical role by conducting research, communicating their findings to policymakers and translating scientific knowledge into practical solutions for communities.
According to Mwaba, connecting laboratory research with policymaking and public understanding would be essential to ensuring that scientific advances contribute meaningfully to national development.
