Zambian Cotton in a Regional Context: Performance under Liberalization and Future Challenges

This paper is directed toward policy makers and private stakeholders in Zambia’s cotton sector. Its purpose is: 1) to assess key elements of the performance of Zambia’s cotton sector relative to other selected African countries; 2) to develop preliminary insights into the driving forces behind Zambia’s performance and also the threats to improved future performance; and 3) to identify key issues within the sector that merit continued applied research and dialogue with stakeholders.food security, food policy, Zambia, cotton, Crop Production/Industries, Q18,

Recent growth in African cassava

According to the authors, "Cassava serves as a staple food for 200 million Africans, second only to maize in its calorie contribution. In response to a series of devastating attacks by cassava diseases and pests over the past several decades, the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and several national agricultural research services have launched successful cassava research programs... " This brief describes some of the programs, their impact and the drivers of change. It concludes with an analyis of the key lessons learned for building future successes. From Brief

Smallholder Household Maize Production and Marketing Behavior in Zambia: Implications for Policy

CSO/MACO nationally-representative rural surveys provide important insights on smallholder crop marketing behavior from the 2001 and 2004 harvests. Only about 25 percent of smallholder farmers in Zambia sold maize in both seasons, and about 15-20 percent of smallholders sold fresh horticulture as well as groundnuts, with 11-13 percent selling cassava. From 6-10 percent of farmers produced and sold cotton. Overall, Zambian smallholder agriculture has become more diversified over the past decade, with maize, cassava, groundnuts, cotton, horticultural crops, and animal products all becoming important sources of cash revenue as well as production for home consumption (except, of course, cotton). Importantly in both seasons studied, horticulture crop sales are roughly equivalent to the value of maize sales nationwide There is substantial variation in farm income and off-farm income across small farm households, owing to disparities in landholding size, other productive assets, and variables affecting access to markets. Two percent of all smallholder farms nationwide accounted for over 40% of all the maize sold by smallholder households in Zambia in 2000/01 and 2003/04. This same two percent of smallholder households also accounted for about 17% and 20% of the total value of all crop sales of the smallholder sector. Poverty reduction policy options are severely constrained by these production and marketing patterns especially if operating though programs that raise market prices for sellers and buyers.food security, food policy, Zambia, maize, production, marketing, Crop Production/Industries, Q20,

Cotton in Zambia: An Assessment of its Organization, Performance, Current Policy Initiatives, and Challenges for the Future

This paper grows out of earlier work on cotton by the Food Security Research Project. It is directed towards policy makers and private stakeholders in Zambia’s cotton sector, and has four main purposes: (a) To provide a detailed descriptive overview of the organization of the sector and of the behavior of key public and private participants in the sector; (b) To assess cotton’s role in smallholder livelihood strategies, and its competitiveness at the farm level with a key alternative crop–maize; (c) To critically evaluate recent policy initiatives in the sector and suggest key modifications that might be needed; and (d) To identify the primary challenges that the sector faces to ensure its future competitiveness in regional and international markets.food security, food policy, Zambia, cotton, smallholder livelihood, Crop Production/Industries, Q18,

Is the Glass Half-Empty or Half Full? An Analysis of Agricultural Production Trends in Zambia

One objective of this paper is to examine the trends and changes in crop production before and after the implementation of the partial market liberalization policies starting in the early 1990s. Another objective of the paper is to assess agricultural production performance and its implications for household food security. These issues are examined on the basis of the Crop Forecast Survey (CFS) data, Post Harvest Survey (PHS) data, Central Statistical Office (CSO) price data, data from the Agricultural Market Information Centre (AMIC) at the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries (MAFF), and other data.food security, food policy, Zambia, crop production, Crop Production/Industries, Q18,

Is the Glass Half-empty or Half Full? An Analysis of Agricultural Production Trends in Zambia

This policy brief highlights some of the key trends in Zambia agricultural production since the implementation of partial agricultural reform.food security, food policy, Zambia, agricultural production, Farm Management, Q18,

Access to Land and Poverty Reduction in Rural Zambia: Connecting the Policy Issues

Key Policy Message: - Despite having relatively low population densities, inadequate access to land is one of the major causes of rural poverty in Zambia. - The apparent paradox of inadequate access to land for many rural households in a country of low population density is partially reconciled when taking into account that economically viable arable land requires at least some degree of access to basic services, water, road infrastructure, and markets. The basic public investments to make settlement economically viable have yet been made in many areas of Zambia. - Depending of future land allocation policy, access to good quality land with a market potential may become increasingly beyond the reach of many small-scale farm households, making it more difficult to achieve a smallholder-led, pro-poor agricultural development trajectory.zambia, food security, land, policy, Agricultural and Food Policy, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Consumer/Household Economics, Food Security and Poverty, Land Economics/Use, q18, q15,

Cotton Sector Policies and Performance in Sub-Saharan Africa: Lessons Behind the Numbers in Mozambique and Zambia

Research results from SIMA-Department of Statistics and Department of Policy Analysis MADER-Directorate of Economicsfood security, food policy, cotton, Mozambique, Zambia, Crop Production/Industries, Q18,

COTTON SECTOR POLICIES AND PERFORMANCE IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA:LESSONS BEHIND THE NUMBERS IN MOZAMBIQUE AND ZAMBIA

Cotton is one of the most important smallholder cash crops in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). How to ensure input supply, credit recovery and competition is a subject of intense policy debate. This paper examines the performance of cotton sector development policies in Mozambique and Zambia. Both countries face the challenge of organizing input supply to farmers in the absence of rural credit markets, and competing in international markets distorted by production subsidies in developed countries. Both countries privatized cotton ginning in the 1990s. Emerging from civil war, Mozambique established geographical monopolies to interlink input and output markets and facilitate credit recovery. In Zambia, the government completely liberalized the cotton sector, forcing the private sector to deal with the problem of input distribution and credit recovery by itself. Despite being landlocked, Zambia's cotton sector has achieved better performance in terms of both value of cotton output per hectare and smallholder share of world market prices. An analysis of the institutional and technical factors behind the two countries' performance provides insights to guide the design of public/private partnerships relevant to many SSA countries.Cotton, Mozambique, Zambia, liberalization, agricultural policy, Agricultural and Food Policy, Crop Production/Industries,

The Politics of Maize in Zambia: Who holds the Keys to Change the Status Quo?

As both the national staple food and primary smallholder crop, maize occupies a central position in Zambia’s agricultural political economy. Despite the government’s large subsidies, maize productivity levels remain way below global averages, maize commercialisation in the smallholder sector remains highly concentrated, maize meal prices are highly volatile, and rural poverty remains high. This study uses a political economy framework to better understand the policy-making process, power structures and dynamics involved in the maize sector in order to get a better understanding of who holds the keys to change, and how to influence agricultural policy changes. Net-Map procedure was used to map the linkages of key players in order to determine critical nodes of policy change. The Executive (Cabinet/State House) was found to wield the most power in commanding the other actors in the sector. However, powerful lobby groups with links to the Executive have often opposed changes to the sector to maintain large rents to their constituency with disregard to the negative effects on the whole sector. In addition, a “Command Triangle” which holds the keys for sustainable policy changes in the maize sector was identified. This command triangle consists of the President, Minister of Finance and Minister of Agriculture. Hence, in order to bring about long-lasting changes to maize marketing policies in Zambia, there is a need for strong collective action within the command triangle, as it possesses the most influence