Decades of research have led to substantially improved understanding of the nature of food insecurity. A combination of economic growth and targeted programs resulted in a steady fall (until the food crisis of 2007/08) in the percentage of the world’s population suffering from undernutrition...

FOOD SECURITY RESEARCH PROJECT, LUSAKA, ZAMBIA

Though Zambia has considerable agricultural potential, the sector’s contribution to growth and poverty reduction has been limited. The sector remains one of the most important employers of labour and remains the main source of livelihood for most rural households in Zambia. Thus key...

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...

The potential of using carbon offset credits from agroforestry projects for farmers in developing areas has become more prevalent in both Clean Development Mechanism and voluntary carbon markets. Since the implementation of the Kyoto Protocol, many international development organizations have...

This paper is a 2014 agricultural outlook covering multiple agricultural commodities and issues.

Conservation farming (CF) practices are widely considered to be important components of sustainable agricultural development in Sub-Saharan Africa because of their potential to raise farm productivity and incomes while maintaining or improving soil quality and reducing vulnerability to variable...

Despite Zambia’s sustained and fairly robust agricultural growth since 2000, rural poverty levels have remained at about 80% over the past 15 years. Because over 70% of Zambia’s agricultural households are small-scale farmers cultivating less than two hectares of land, they must effectively...

Economists have long held that broad-based agricultural growth is the most powerful source of poverty reduction in developing countries where most of the rural population is engaged in agriculture (Johnston and Mellor 1961; Mellor 1974; Lipton 2006). However, in Zambia’s case, despite sustained and...

The horror of genocide and civil war have turned the world's attention to Rwanda over the last year. But before and beyond that conflict, there was hunger and the slow grinding poverty of small holder agriculture meeting with severe land scarcity and degradation. This report is about reversing...