Reaping the rewards of agricultural recovery

Zambia has made a positive start to the planting season, and the country's food stocks are healthy. "For the first time in 10 years, it appears [agricultural] inputs have been distributed in a timely manner and in the right sequence," said the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET). "Reports from Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives (MACO) indicate that 62 percent of the fertilizer (mostly basal), subsidised at 50 percent, has been delivered to distribution points and there has been an overwhelming response from farmers," FEWS NET noted. Planting is underway throughout the country. Some parts of Southern and Western provinces received relatively good rains in November, and in Kalomo (Southern province), maize was reportedly already knee-high by the end of November. Domestic food availability was "still significantly more ample than at this time last year", the FEWS NET report added. Zambia also has sizeable quantities of maize in stock for domestic consumption. "The FRA [Food Reserve Agency] stock position as at 15 December stood at 80,818 mt, comprising 51,500 mt of local purchases and a 29,318 mt balance from the 40,000 mt carry-over stock imported by the government during the food crisis last season," FEWS NET stated. Of the maize carry-over stock, 4,182 mt and 6,500 mt were sold to the World Food Programme for relief and developmental purposes in Zambia and Zimbabwe respectively. By late October last year the Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit (DMMU) had stockpiled 18,908 mt of maize, 179 mt of sorghum, 3,144 mt of rice and 4.5 mt of beans, all of which was designated exclusively for relief purposes. SUSTAINABILITY FEWS NET has recommended a number of initiatives to secure the future sustainability of agricultural production in Zambia. Among these are that farmers' organisations be proactive in exploring export markets before the harvest and advise their members accordingly. "However, this will require the government to assure farmers of timely lifting of the export ban, or even to do away with export bans altogether," FEWS NET said. The organisation also suggested that both the government and private sector address inadequacies in marketing future surpluses. "It is clear that there is no sustainable marketing arrangement in place. FEWS NET recommends the development of a reliable system of market intelligence, including linking timely crop forecasts with export decisions." The export strategy should be in place before the onset of the harvest so that farmers and traders could plan accordingly. FEWS NET also recommended financial assistance towards farmers' transportation and storage costs.