Online Reporter
THE Government is continuing with its drive to rationalise regulatory fees after it announced new levies and requirements for the agriculture sector yesterday.
Authorities have, over the past few months, had an in-depth review of various levies and processes that are applicable in the economy. As a result, loads of fees and often-onerous regulations have been drastically reduced or scrapped altogether as the Government advances its effort to improve the ease of doing business.
As we report elsewhere today, Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube yesterday announced a review of licences, permits, levies and fees in the agriculture sector, cutting some charges for fertiliser producers and horticulture exporters, reducing the cotton buying point levy by 75 percent, and scrapping fish harvest fees, among other measures.
He also announced a waiver of import licences for farmers importing equipment for their own use, a review of regulatory frameworks to incentivise private investment in dam construction and water infrastructure and removal of fish harvest fees.
A similar exercise was recently conducted in the transport, retail and manufacturing, energy, health, and financial services sectors, with the construction and liquor segments yet to be dealt with.
Indeed, on reflection, we have come to understand the heavy burden that investors had to carry over all these years for them to set up and run businesses in the country.
Why did we have a fish harvest levy? A fish farmer paying, even if it was ZiG10, to harvest the fish he had farmed? Like a chicken, rabbit or cattle farmer paying a levy to the Government to harvest their produce?
Why did anyone need a permit to move grain locally? I am a miller in Gweru, sourcing maize from Masvingo and had to apply for a licence for me to be allowed to transport that grain for value addition in Gweru?
It didn’t make any sense at all. We had normalised abnormalities.
However, the good thing is that the Government realised how unproductive the permits, fees and other processes were and decided to have a relook at them.
Prof Ncube expects the reforms to significantly improve policy predictability, regulatory quality, ease of doing business in agriculture, reduce the cost of production across agricultural value chains, improve the competitiveness of Zimbabwean agricultural products, and enhance national food security.
“Agriculture remains a cornerstone of the country’s economy, contributing approximately 12 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), over 30 percent of formal employment, and more than 60 percent of raw materials for industry,” Prof Ncube said.
If the industry was able to contribute so much to the economy for so long despite all the permits and fees on its shoulders, we are sure that the reforms announced yesterday will unleash the massive growth potential the sector has.
