The potential benefits of a well integrated ICT in agriculture are diverse and include: •  transparent dissemination of information such as weather patterns, seed and fertilizer use, availability and distribution;  •  easy accessibility to suppliers of inputs;  •  common distribution of information on market prices of crops; and  •  generally bringing together of suppliers and buyers of crops. Government has put agriculture at the core of rural development and poverty reduction as well as employment creation. It is therefore important to note that the expansion of ICTs in rural communities is more required now than ever before, as most information is now  4  BIS Review 76/2008  disseminated through internet and cellular phones. These facilities will help uplift the living standards of rural communities. 3.2  Agriculture  Zambia’s agriculture sector has enormous potential to become a major grower and exporter of agricultural and horticultural produce. The country has an abundance of quality land, water (over 40% of fresh water resources in Southern Africa) and ideal climate all suited to a wide range of agricultural products. Only 15% of Zambia’s 60 million hectares of arable land is under cultivation. The recent surge in food prices in the world presents an enormous opportunity for Zambia to become the food basket of the sub region. This can be achieved by re-doubling efforts to boost agricultural productivity coupled with substantial increase in infrastructure investment to ease supply bottlenecks that are pushing up prices.
That stance combines an exceptionally low policy interest rate – the federal funds rate in a range of 0 to 25 basis points – with forward guidance indicating that this range would be appropriate at least as long as the unemployment rate remains above 6½ percent, inflation is projected to be no more than 2½ percent between one and two years in the future, and inflation expectations remain well anchored. Moreover, to support a stronger economic recovery, the FOMC is purchasing Treasury securities at a rate of $ billion per month and agency mortgage-backed securities (MBS) at a rate of $ billion per month, and has stated its intention to continue purchasing assets until it sees substantial improvement in the outlook for the labor market, conditional on ongoing assessment of benefits and costs. Combined, these actions are intended to ease financial conditions and thereby help to establish a selfsustaining economic expansion. Turning to recent developments, incoming data on the U.S. economy have been mixed of late. Based on the advance estimate, real GDP declined slightly in the final quarter of 2012, which was below the consensus expectations of an increase of around one percent. In addition, in January payroll employment rose by just 157,000, below the 200,000 average monthly gain in the fourth quarter, and the unemployment rate edged up to 7.9 percent. Offsetting these soft indicators, we see evidence beneath the surface that private demand firmed in the final months of 2012 and has been reasonably well maintained thus far this year.