The government of Zambia is seeking World Bank support in the development of the agriculture sector. Minister of Finance and National Planning Situmbeko Musokotwane made the announcement and said they are engaging the bank for a possibility of supplementary funding specifically meant to enhance the development of farming blocks established across the country to improve productivity.
“The government will upscale agriculture sector development, with a special focus on farm block development and effective market linkages,” he said during a post-budget analysis on the agriculture sector organized by the Indaba Agricultural Policy Research Institute, an agricultural think-tank in Lusaka, the country’s capital.
Agriculture sector
The Zambian minister emphasized the need to focus on the agriculture sector as a major driver of export-oriented economy. Anthony Chapoto, the think-tank’s research director, called on the government to provide small-scale commercial land in the farming blocks to qualified specialists and graduates in order to maximize the benefits from the farm block.
Agriculture contributes about 19% to GDP and employs three quarters of the population. Domestic production is comprised of crops such as maize, sorghum, millet, and cassava while exports are driven by sugar, soybeans, coffee, groundnuts, rice, and cotton as well as horticultural produce.
Zambia covers 75 million hectares (752,000 km2), out of which 58% (42 million hectares) is classified as medium-to high-potential for agriculture production. However, only 15% of this land is currently under cultivation. Small-scale farmers are generally subsistence producers of staple foods with occasional marketable surplus; the majority of Zambian farmers are small-scale, subsistence farmers.
