President HH Unveils Grow Zambia Agenda Development Programme

President Hakainde Hichilema has unveiled the Grow Zambia Agenda, a development programme designed to move the country from economic stabilisation to accelerated growth.

The agenda is anchored on a set of ambitious economic and production targets, popularly captured as the 10-10-5-3-3-1-1-1 targets. Under the plan, Zambia aims to produce 10 million tonnes of maize by 2031, generate 10,000 megawatts of electricity and attract five million tourist arrivals a year.

Delivering his inauguration speech after being sworn in at the National Heroes Stadium in Lusaka, President Hichilema said the targets stretch beyond the traditional pillars of the economy. Copper production is to be increased to three million tonnes and soya bean output to three million tonnes, while the country will also target one million tonnes of wheat, a one-billion-dollar beef industry and one million tonnes of sugar.

The President said his second term would be defined by a decisive shift from stabilisation to growth, with government working to translate hard-won macroeconomic stability into tangible improvements in the lives of ordinary Zambians. His ambition, he said, is to triple the size of the Zambian economy over the next five years.

President Hichilema pledged to tackle the cost of living by expanding opportunities for citizens to participate meaningfully in the economy. Central to this approach, he said, would be wealth creation, giving more Zambians the capacity to earn income and widening the base from which prosperity can be shared across society.