This is a best prospect industry sector for this country. Includes a market overview and trade data.
Last Published: 4/4/2019
The Zambian agriculture sector comprises crops, livestock, and fisheries.  There are three broad categories of farmers: small-scale, medium, and large-scale.  Small-scale farmers are generally subsistence producers of staple foods with occasional marketable surplus.  Medium-scale farmers produce maize and a few other cash crops for the market.  Large-scale farmers produce various crops for the local and export markets.  Most Zambians are subsistence farmers.  Agriculture contributes about 19 percent 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. The Zambia territory is 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 percent of this land is currently under cultivation.  Zambia enjoys 40 percent of sub-Saharan water resources.  Despite this, there is very little mechanical irrigation.  The majority of farms are dependent on rain-fed growing cycles.

Sub-Sector Best Prospects

Government is promoting agriculture as a way to diversify the economy away from an overreliance on copper through the development of farm blocks in all 10 provinces for large and medium commercial farming, fish farming, and livestock production.  Private equity and other investors are active in this sector.

Opportunities

Agricultural cultivation in Zambia is mostly  non-mechanized, and the sector is rain-fed. Opportunities include large-scale farming, farm inputs and equipment supply, agro-processing and commodity trading.  The sector is in dire need of mechanization.

Key government and regulatory agencies:
Ministry of Agriculture
Mulungushi House, Independence Avenue
P. O. Box 50197
Lusaka, Zambia
Tel: +260-211 251719
 
Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries
Mulungushi House, Independence Avenue
P. O. Box 35301
Lusaka, Zambia
Tel: +260-211 224648 

Web Resources

http://www.zda.org.zm
http://www.agriculture.gov.zm/
 
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More Information

Zambia Agribusiness Trade Development and Promotion