The agricultural sector has a dual structure, wherein large commercial farms co-exist with scattered smallholder agricultural households.
The Zambian agriculture sector comprises crops, livestock and fisheries. The country’s staple crop and most cultivated is maize. The livestock sub-sector produces everything derived from cattle, as well as d, chicken, eggs, pigs, hides and skins.
Despite good growth in the agriculture sector overall since 2009, low agricultural productivity and poverty remain stagnant in rural areas. The following key recommendations are highlighted:
the development of guidelines and approaches to mainstream climate change into National Development Planning processes should receive high priority; capacity strengthening – for governments, technical staff and farmers – is a high priority for enabling the implementation of CSA and should be a key area for investment; strengthen research and extension services at the local level to allow context-specific CSA approaches to be identified and implemented in collaboration with local farmers and the implementation and success of CSA projects in Zambia should be carefully monitored to understand the potential of initiatives to contribute to agricultural transformation, and attract increased investment
