Multiple taxations hurting honey production industry—Ball

A stakeholder in the honey production sector, Daniel Ball, has appealed to government to ease taxes on the sector for it to grow and contribute to job creation.

Ball bemoaned the high cost of doing business in remote rural Zambia with regard to regulatory and other fees.

He said this during a Zambia Association of Manufacturers (ZAM) Pre-Budget Meeting in Lusaka on Friday, graced by Finance and National Planning, Minister Situmbeko Musokotwane.

Ball said the honey sector has witnessed duplicated regulatory charges such as Health Inspections by District Councils, Veterinary, Production Levies by the Council, and the Forestry Department also charging Production Levies.

He said the K9 per kilo being charged by the Forestry Department is 60percent of the revenue the beekeeper will receive, which is excessive.

“The sector has regulatory charges at the District Council that they pay on a permit basis adding that there are production charges being charged which constitutes a double charge,” Ball said.

He added that the Forestry Department has another charge and at export there is another charge on a per Kilogram basis, which is sinking the sector especially that these are unofficial levies.

Ball said the official levies that are in Statutory Instrument (SI) 52of the Forestry Amendment Act sink the sector even further, if they are applied according to the law.

He has, therefore, urged government to make agricultural products and equipment processing VAT exempted in the 2024 National Budget to encourage value Addition and called on government to rescind the Forestry Levies.

“We need to go back because we cannot grow the sector that way. If possible, we can rescind the Council levies to allow the sector and reinvest in a rather fragile environment,” Ball said.

Ball is Managing Director of Forest Fruits Limited.

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