185
Agriculture
Climatic factors provide the country with three ma-
jor agro-ecological zones suitable for a wide range
of crops, livestock, fish, and forestry products. The
different zones range from the vast, temperate pla-
teau region of the north to the subtropical valleys
around the Zambezi River of the south.
Inv
estment areas
of interest
Favorable investment opportunities exist in the fol-
lowing:
• $gricultural ,nputs
• $gricultural Support Services
• Fisheries
• +orticulture Floriculture
• /ivestocN
• 3oultr\ 3roducts
While tobacco is increasingly seen as a lucrative
cash crop, its production—especially in the dryer
Southern region—has the potential to increase
threefold with the appropriate infrastructure devel-
opment. Increases in coffee and cotton production
have similar growth potential.
Furthermore, both traditional and non-traditional
agricultural exports have historically been exported
in their raw, unprocessed form. That being said,
there is now a great deal of potential in the down-
stream processing of agricultural produce. Private
companies are able to take advantage of the gap
that exists in the market through investment in pro-
cessing plants—either as stand-alone investments
or in conjunction with agricultural initiatives.
In addition to a reduced tax rate of 15 percent on
income from farming activities, the government
also provides a number of incentives and allow-
ances within the agricultural sector. They include
the following:
• 50 percent depreciation allowance per year for
the first two years on machinery used for farming
• 0 percent capital expenditure allowance per year
for the first five years on farm improvements
• 10 percent development allowance per year, up
to the first year of production, on capital expendi-
tures incurred for the purpose of growing coffee,
tea, bananas, citrus fruits, or similar plants
• 100 percent farm work allowance for expendi-
tures on farmland, such as stumping, land clear-
ing, water conservation, and the like.
CROPS
Zambia produces a variety of crops, livestock, fish,
and agro-forestry commodities. In addition to its
main crop, maize, other crops include wheat, cassa-
va, millet, sorghum, rice, soybeans, groundnuts, and
mixed beans. Cash crops such as cotton, tobacco,
sugar cane, coffee, tea, seeds, flowers, and high-
value horticultural produce are becoming increas-
ingly important.
Wheat
Two crops of wheat are produced each year due to
the rotation of the crop with cotton and soybeans.
Greater focus is being given to the production of ir-
rigated “winter” wheat, as the national consumption
has increased tremendously in recent years.
Cassav
a
One of Zambia’s staple crops, cassava, is produced
in Northern and Luapula provinces, which contribute
to about 70 percent of the national cassava output.
As part of its emphasis on decreasing the country’s
dependence on rain-fed crops, the government has
identified cassava production as a means to improve
food security. It is believed that as cassava produc-
tion increases it will offset the country’s heavy de-
pendence on maize as the primary food crop.
Mil
l
et
This mainly grown by small-scale farmers for sub-
sistence, and it is used locally in brewing beer. The
Northern Province accounts for over 50 percent of
the nation’s millet production. As demand for millet
is low, production levels are currently low as well.
Sorg
hum
Sorghum is grown in the Southern, Western, and
NorthWestern provinces. Like millet, production lev-
els remain low due to low demand.
Rice
About half of Zambia’s rice is produced in Northern
Province, followed by Western and Eastern prov-
inces. As demand for rice has risen in recent years,
production levels have increased greatly along with
the increase in farmland used for rice production.
Nuts and Beans
Peanuts (groundnuts) are predominately produced
in Eastern and Northern provinces. Due to their great
popularity in export markets, there is ample room to
