Evergreen agriculture in Zambia

This policy brief examines 'evergreen agriculture' in Zambia, focusing on the integration of specific tree species into annual food crop systems to combat soil degradation and climate change vulnerability. It highlights the success of maize agroforestry and conservation agriculture with trees in increasing yields and sequestering carbon, while discussing the institutional and financial challenges of scaling these practices across Africa.

• Zambian smallholders face significant food insecurity due to low soil fertility and climate volatility. Between 2000 and 2008, factors such as drought, late planting, and poor soil led farmers to abandon one third of the area under maize before harvest. Additionally, 69% of smallholders farm without mineral fertilisers, and 73% produce insufficient maize for market sale.
• Evergreen agriculture, defined as integrating specific tree species into annual food crop systems, improves soil health and productivity. These systems maintain vegetative cover, enhance nutrient supply via nitrogen fixing, improve water infiltration, and increase carbon storage. In Zambia, the use of Faidherbia albida trees in maize agroforestry showed dramatic results in the 2008 growing season, with unfertilised maize yields averaging 4.1 tonnes per ha near the trees compared to 1.3 tonnes outside the canopy.
• Conservation agriculture with trees in Zambia relies on three core principles: minimal soil disturbance (such as using 'planting basins'), maintaining organic soil cover through crops and trees, and diversifying crops with leguminous species like beans and cowpeas. Since 1996, the Conservation Farming Unit has introduced these techniques to more than 150,000 families.
• Evergreen agriculture provides significant climate change adaptation and mitigation benefits. It reduces vulnerability to weather extremes by increasing water retention and stabilising soil against erosion. In terms of mitigation, these systems sequester between 2–4 tonnes of carbon per ha per year, with a total potential to sequester up to 50 billion tonnes of CO2 across Africa over the next 50 years.
• Scaling evergreen agriculture requires overcoming significant resource and policy gaps. Key needs include increasing the supply of quality tree seeds by 4-5 times, expanding extension services for knowledge dissemination, and creating policy frameworks that provide incentives for natural fertilisation equal to mineral fertiliser subsidies.
• Financial mechanisms for agroforestry, such as carbon markets and the World Bank's Biocarbon Fund, face hurdles including high transaction costs, complex rules, and the difficulty of measuring below-ground carbon. The document suggests that Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs) may be a more viable alternative to carbon markets for targeting support to national circumstances.

APA

Ward, M. (2011). Evergreen agriculture in Zambia. Climate and Development Knowledge Network. https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/Zambia-InsideStory_final_hi-res2.pdf

Chicago

Ward, Murray. Evergreen agriculture in Zambia. Climate and Development Knowledge Network, 2011. https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/Zambia-InsideStory_final_hi-res2.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Ward |first1=Murray |title=Evergreen agriculture in Zambia |publisher=Climate and Development Knowledge Network |date=December 2011 |url=https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/Zambia-InsideStory_final_hi-res2.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{ward2011evergreen, author = {Ward, Murray}, title = {{Evergreen agriculture in Zambia}}, institution = {Climate and Development Knowledge Network}, year = {2011}, month = dec, url = {https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/Zambia-InsideStory_final_hi-res2.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }