This policy synthesis highlights the key findings and conclusions contained in the full report, “Developments in Fertilizer Marketing in Zambia: Commercial Trading, Government Programs and the Smallholder Farmer.” The key objective of this policy synthesis is to summarize the key findings in...

The debate on fertilizer reform process in Zambia has two contrasting views. Some stakeholders continue to be convinced that the private sector is unable to adequately serve the needs of smallholder farmers, especially in the more remote parts of the country. Only 20 per cent of smallholder...

This paper assesses the level and composition of the Zambia’s public expenditures in the agricultural sector from 2000 to 2008. By measuring the size of public agricultural expenditures, the study will answer whether the Government of Zambia met CAADP’s target of allocating 10% of national...

The economic reforms in maize marketing and trade policies implemented during the 1990s have been highly controversial, and there remains a lack of solid empirical investigation on the impacts of these reforms on national food security, price stability and rural income growth. This study aims to...

Prepared for the COMESA policy seminar on “Variation in staple food prices: Causes, consequence, and policy options”, Maputo, Mozambique, 25-26 January 2010 under the Comesa-MSU-IFPRI African Agricultural Marketing Project (AAMP)

The past two years are a tribute to Zambian farmers; they have responded admirably to government efforts to promote maize production. But ironically, rural poverty remains stubbornly high despite the fact that the government has spent over 2% of the nation’s gross domestic product in...

1. Consistent with the New Variant Famine (NVF) hypothesis, the negative impact of drought on crop output and output per hectare is further exacerbated where HIV prevalence rates are relatively high, particularly in the low- and medium rainfall zones of the country (agro-ecological regions I and...

Accurate information on farmer and consumer behavior is the foundation for Identifying public investments and policies that can effectively promote national food security and income growth objectives. This report synthesizes recent findings on smallholder crop marketing behavior and urban...

The world food and financial crises threaten to undermine the real incomes of urban consumers in eastern and southern Africa. This study investigates patterns in staple food prices, wage rates, and marketing margins for urban consumers in Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, and Zambia between 1993 and...

The view that widows and their dependents face greater livelihood risks in the era of HIV/AIDS is indeed supported by nationally-representative survey results from Zambia. Efforts to safeguard widows’ rights to land through land tenure innovations involving community authorities may be an...