Many agricultural policy discussions in Zambia revolve around the cost of producing maize. Despite the importance of having accurate estimates of production costs, smallholders’ cost of maize production in Zambia remain poorly understood. Various estimates are provided by interested parties,...

In the late 1990s, several governments in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) embarked on various market reforms to improve commodity market performance. The success of such market reforms depends partly on the strength of the transmission of price signals between spatially separated markets and between...

Though Zambia has considerable agricultural potential, the sector’s contribution to growth and poverty reduction has been limited. The sector remains one of the most important employers of labour and remains the main source of livelihood for most rural households in Zambia. Thus key...

Economists have long held that broad-based agricultural growth is the most powerful source of poverty reduction in developing countries where most of the rural population is engaged in agriculture (Johnston and Mellor 1961; Mellor 1974; Lipton 2006). However, in Zambia’s case, despite sustained and...

Forests support rural livelihoods and food security in many developing countries by providing critical sources of food, medicine, shelter, building materials, fuels, and cash income. The increasing demand for forest products has enhanced rural livelihoods and enabled the expansion of domestic...

The 2012 harvest was, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock national food balance sheet estimates, a major surplus production season. However, by November the same year, Zambia started experiencing widespread maize meal shortages and skyrocketing maize meal prices. Responding to...

This analysis examined optimum supply formula (OSF) in the tart cherry industry. The OSF is a tool for stabilizing market prices as authorized by a federal market order (FMO). The current OSF sets free sales of tart cherries in a given harvest year, or optimum supply volume (OSV), equal to the...

This report summarizes the financial and production records of 11 Michigan swine farms. To be included, the farms must have produced at least 50 percent of gross cash farm income from one or a combination of fat hogs, feeder pigs and cull breeding hogs sales. The records came from Michigan State...