Africa’s recent protracted harvest deficit and Russia’s blockage of Ukraine’s exports threaten global food security; but Zambia’s large mass of arable land, conservation farming techniques that mitigate climate shocks, and thriving agriculture export market have well-positioned the country to ramp up crop production and exports to respond to the growing continental food crisis.
After launching USAID TradeBoost last month, USAID/Zambia invested $3 million into a partnership with agribusiness/energy firm AfricaGlobal Schaffer; infrastructure firm Bechtel’s social impact company, bechtel.org; and African-born global conglomerate ETG and its social impact arm, Empowering Farmers Foundation to increase the supply and quality of maize and other agriculture commodities on the African continent. USAID’s funds are matched 1:1 by the private sector partners to magnify their potential to improve food security and increase shared prosperity.
This partnership will build green, Smart Integrated District Aggregation Centers in areas where improving production will have huge impacts. Its first phase will prioritize the construction, start-up, and operationalization of seven centers in high-production areas by the May harvest season. It then plans to scale up to 23 centers to provide approximately 100,000 metric tons of maize and other crops, employ one third female smallholder farmers to run centers, and potentially avoid more than 800 metric tons of carbon—equivalent to around 80,000 gallons of consumed diesel.
Increasing Zambia’s food production will vastly improve food security. In addition, eliminating Zambia’s post-harvest maize loss will provide over 1.5 million people with their necessary calorie requirements, thus significantly reducing hunger and malnutrition.
