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Agriculture
tect vulnerable households from high food prices. As
an additional food security measure, silos in Lusaka
have been rehabilitated with the aim of improving
the grain storage capacity of the country. This pro-
gramme has continued with the rehabilitation of silos
in Kabwe and Ndola as well.
CHALLENGES TO AGRICULTURE
Despite large and fertile tracts of arable land and
a climate that is conducive to agricultural develop-
ment, the sector faces numerous challenges. Lack
of long-term investment in agriculture, poor rural
infrastructure and generally underdeveloped rural
areas have eroded productivity, while current yields
of staple crops are in need of a significant increase
if food security is to be ensured. Less than one-sixth
(14 percent) of the total arable land is being used
for agricultural purposes in Zambia. Most farmers
fall into the small-scale farmer category. Commercial
agriculture ventures are on the rise in Zambia are
confined to a small number of large and medium-
size farms.
Specifically, obstacles facing the agricultural sector
in Zambia include limited access to credit, inputs and
extension services; fluctuating costs of inputs; low
labour and land productivity; limited market access
for small-scale farmers; poor livestock management;
weaknesses in the Fertilizer Support Programme
(now the Farmer Input Support Programme); failure
to attract adequate private sector investment; and
the seasonal nature of agricultural production.
AGRICULTURAL POLICY
The Zambian government’s main priorities are to
maximize the contribution of the agricultural sec-
tor to the overall Zambian GDP by facilitating and
supporting the development of a sustainable and
competitive industry that ensures food security at
national and household level. They also are trying to
facilitate poverty reduction through employment and
income-generating activities provided by agricultural
activities, and contribute to sustainable industrial de-
velopment.
While intent on ensuring that the existing agricultural
resource base is maintained and improved, the Na-
tional Agricultural Policy 2004-2015 also focuses on
crop diversification and the opening up of new ag-
ricultural production areas, in addition to providing
agricultural support services, reducing dependence
on rain-dependent agriculture, increasing the effi-
ciency of irrigation techniques, as well as expanding
markets. This entails:
• Increased investment in rural development, and in
rural infrastructure in particular, from
both the public and private sectors to boost produc-
tivity and better link farmers to markets
• Targeting of support to small-scale producers of
food
• Improved incentive measures and subsidy
schemes for provision of inputs, accompanied
by an effective and efficient agricultural extension
service, and robust adaptive research services that
accelerate small-scale farmer adoption of appropri-
ate technologies to boost productivity
• Better terms of trade at both regional and global
level for agricultural produce and inputs
• Formulation and implementation of national poli-
cies and international cooperation
agreements that enhance productivity for the major-
ity of small-scale farmers
• Provision of inputs at affordable costs
• Development of irrigation, especially for small-
scale farmers
• Facilitation of evidence-based decision making by
strengthening monitoring and evaluation systems,
capacity of agricultural statistics as well as informa-
tion
communication technologies (ICTs) to provide wider
access to data and information
Agriculture is a key component of Zambia’s Vision 2030
Agriculture recovered strongly to grow by 12.4 per-
cent in 2009 compared to just 1.9 percent in 2008.
This growth is on account of a bumper harvest, with
maize, tobacco, soya beans, sunflower, sorghum
and wheat improving significantly in the 2008/9 farm-
ing season. In particular, maize production rose by
26.7 percent to 1.9 million metric tonnes, following
output of 1.5 million metric tonnes in 2008. This is
the largest harvest Zambia has recorded in the past
ten years.