Zambian farmers have extensive experience with maize hybrids and input subsidies. Like other countries in Eastern and Southern Africa, the successful development and diffusion of improved maize seed in Zambia during the 1970s and 1980s was supported by strong government commitment to parastatal grain and seed marketing and subsidized provision...

Over the last fifty years food production per person in Africa has grown disappointingly slowly at little more than 10%. The population of Africa is growing rapidly at an average annual rate of 2.5% and is expected to almost double by 2050 to close to two billion people. Chronic hunger...

Supported by Sida, the World Agroforestry centre (ICRAF) and the African Conservation Tillage Network (ACT) launched the Conservation Agriculture with Trees (CAWT) pilot project in Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania and Zambia. The countries were selected as among those in Africa where there was strong evidence of CA up-scaling taking place. The...

This study reports on the land degradation minimizing effects of Conservation Agriculture (CA) as promoted among smallholder Zambian farmers. It found no evidence of CA associated improvements in soil fertility after five years of CA practice, most probably because crop residues were removed from the fields. The study reports high...

This Conservation Farming video is for anybody interested in the promotion of Conservation Farming and Climate Smart Agriculture. Produced by The Climate Change Unit of the World Bank Institute and TerrAfrica.  

L’objectif global du projet "Les systèmes accessibles pour gérer les risques dans l’agriculture familiale en Afrique", maintenant appelé "la gestion du risque agricole pour l’Afrique",ou FARMAF, est d’améliorer la sécurité alimentaire des ménages et les moyens de subsistance des ruraux pauvres. Cet objectif doit être atteint en améliorant l’accès et...

This study quantifies how population density affects input use and output per hectare of staple crops. In doing so, we empirically test Ester Boserup’s (1965) hypothesis that increasing population density leads to agricultural intensification, measured through increased demand for modern inputs, such as commercial fertilizer and increased production per hectare....

Using a three-year panel survey data of 5,907 livestock owners in rural Zambia, this study provides empirical evidence on why there are low levels of livestock market participation in Zambia. In addition, the study examines the factors influencing cattle market dynamics in the survey period. In particular, it looks at...

Food insecurity is common place among 44% (six million) of Zambian population. Conservation agriculture (CA) is an option being promoted to address this problem. There is little evidence showing whether CA adopters are better than non-CA adopters in terms of food security. Using a four years panel data, focus group...

In Zambia, more than 1 million rural households can benefit from Agriculture Water Management solutions. Food security, the ability to diversify their crops and increased income are among the potential benefits. For this to happen, support to smallholders should be part of an integrated approach in which all aspects of...

The present edition highlights the significance of the forestry sector to the overall economy and its importance overall in the region’s land use, demonstrating its potential to make a difference in improving (or worsening) an economy’s green credentials. It is an important message about forestry and greenness.

The year 2011 has been proclaimed the International Year of Forests (in brief “Forests 2011”) and it is being celebrated under the theme “Forests for People”. This is truly a remarkable theme. One cannot come close to covering all of it in a single edition of Nature & Faune as...

The objective of this study was to estimate the cost of maize production in rural Zambia as well as to identify the factors causing these estimates to vary across households. This will inform current policy discussions and potentially identify unused policy levers that could increase Zambian smallholder farmer’s competitiveness in...

The present ability or otherwise of Africa to cope with climate change and improve its agricultural production depends on the environment and natural resources base of the continent, on the impacts of its past and on the nature of its present interactions with the outside world. Africa is a large...

The Comprehensive African Agricultural Development Programme (CAADP) aims to revitalize African farming in order to reduce rural poverty and hunger. This is a massively important undertaking for a continent where a third of the population continue to struggle with chronic malnutrition. But is CAADP getting the right strategies, policies and...

Using lessons from the case studies this paper draws out five practical steps in reaching and supporting women marginal farmers: 1) take the lead from women marginal farmers themselves in helping build their networks and groups, 2) promote alliances and external links, 3) organising needs based training workshops and regular...

Women farmers grow, buy, sell, cook food and feed their children. They produce 60 – 80%1 of food in most developing countries and, as such, it is women that hold the key to tackling hunger and malnutrition. Yet their needs are often not recognised or understood. As a result, policy...

Agriculture and agro-processing are important in Zambia's economy, representing more than 40 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) and contributing about 12 percent of national export earnings. Agriculture employs some 67 percent of the labor force and supplies raw materials to agricultural industries, which account for some 84 percent of...

This paper uses the sustainable livelihoods framework to explore the contribution of smallholder production to food security in some sub-Saharan African countries and relates it to the South African case. Noting that many of the world’s hungry are smallholder farmers, it is clear that food insecurity is closely linked to...

Agricultural production remains the main source of livelihood for rural communities in Sub-Saharan Africa, providing employment to more than 60 percent of the population and contributing about 30 percent of gross domestic product. With likely long-term changes in rainfall patterns and shifting temperature zones, climate change is expected to significantly...