Zambian Women In Agriculture (ZWA) chairperson Cecilia Makota has called for education for women if they are to benefit from the recently extended African Growth Opportunity Act (AGOA) announced by American President George Bush.

Mrs Makota said many women still did not understand the initiative as most of them were contented to be local producers.

"You see, many women do not even know that they are poor. Therefore there is need to carry out education so that they could utilise opportunities such as the AGOA," Mrs Makota said

She said agriculture could only develop if women were targeted and not left out in the development of agricultural policies.

Speaking in an interview in Lusaka recently, Mrs Makota said often women were left out in decision-making and that had caused the problems in the sector.

She said it was vital to involve women in policy-making and implementation because they were the major producers.

And speaking during a special meeting to discuss the maize market plan which suggested solutions to the current marketing problems of maize in Zambia, Mrs Makota said there was no need for the Zambian team to travel to the United States of America and South Africa to learn how those countries managed their grain. She said the countries were far too developed.

She suggested that the team should have instead travelled to one of the neighbouring countries which was closer to Zambia's situation.

But deputy Agriculture minister Chance Kabaghe said the need to carry out a study tour of those countries was necessary because they had succeeded in making marketing in agriculture efficient.

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