In many African countries, as well as in other parts of the world where a significant part of the rural population is poor and food insecure, policymakers face what is called the food price dilemma. On the one hand, they need to provide farmers with incentives to increase the quantity of...

Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Directorate of Economics, Republic of Mozambique

Without renewed attention to sustained agricultural productivity growth, most small farms in developing countries will become increasingly unviable economic and social units. Sustained agricultural productivity growth and poverty reduction will require progress on a number of fronts, most...

In 2009, the World Bank published a comparative study of cotton sector reforms, based on detailed case studies carried out during 2007/08 in nine of Africa’s main cotton producing countries. The purpose of the study was to draw practical insights from the diversity of experiences in...

This working paper explores the prospects for regional maize trade in helping to stabilize food availability and prices in Zambia. It reviews these general prospects within the maize economy of southern Africa. Given the important regional differences in Zambia’s food economy, it explores...

A report prepared by Michigan State University for the World Bank under contract No. 7144132, Strengthening Food Security in Sub-Saharan Africa through Trade Liberalization and Regional Integration

Cotton is one unquestioned success of Zambia’s turn towards a market economy. After liberalization in late 1994, production rose from 20,000 mt to over 100,000 mt in the 1998 harvest year. After collapsing to less than 50,000 mt in 2000, it has risen steadily, nearing 200,000 mt in 2005. Over...

Produced for review by the United States Agency for International Development under the WACIP project funded by USAID (Programme de Renforcement du Secteur Coton en Afrique de l'Ouest et du Centre

Zambia’s population clusters tightly in cities along the north-south line of rail and in the primarily rural areas of Eastern Province (Figure 1). Staple food consumption and purchases are similarly concentrated in these heavily populated clusters (Figures 4 and 5). Across the border, several...

Produced for review by the United States Agency for International Development under the WACIP project funded by USAID (Programme de Renforcement du Secteur Coton en Afrique de l'Ouest et du Centre