Agriculture: Future Scenarios for Southern Africa – The Livestock Sector in Zambia and Rising Food Prices

The report analyzes the Zambian livestock sector, noting that rising prices are driven by fuel costs, imported feed inputs, climate change, and economic pressures. It highlights a divide between a thriving poultry sector and a struggling beef sector plagued by disease and poor infrastructure. The document argues that while liberalization was intended to modernize the sector, it lacked the necessary socioeconomic safety nets and technical support, leaving small-scale farmers vulnerable. It recommends strengthening research, improving irrigation, and expanding government disease control to stabilize prices and enhance food security.

• Livestock prices in Zambia saw significant increases between 2005 and 2007, with village chicken prices rising by 100% and cattle (beef) increasing by 27.3%.
• The poultry sector has grown through economies of scale and improved market access via trade arrangements with the Southern African Development Community and the Common Market for East and Southern Africa, aided by a 1994 import ban on Zimbabwean poultry due to Newcastle disease.
• Zambia remains a net importer of beef due to persistent outbreaks of diseases such as foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) and contagious bovine pleural pneumonia (CBPP), as well as poor funding for data collection and inadequate infrastructure to meet export sanitary standards.
• The 1992 liberalization of the agricultural sector, advised by the IMF and World Bank, created a schism where small-scale farmers remain resource-poor and food insecure because the transition lacked socioeconomic safety nets and failed to address constraints like high veterinary drug costs and poor animal husbandry.
• Rising food prices are exacerbated by the high cost of imported fuel and manufactured agro-inputs, such as soya cake for poultry, and by extreme weather patterns like floods that increase the risk of disease transmission from wild buffalo to cattle.
• Zambia's agricultural potential is hindered by the under-utilization of land and water; only 10.5 million of 42 million hectares of suitable land are used, and only 50,000 hectares of a 423,000-hectare irrigation potential are currently irrigated.
• The Fertilizer Support Programme (FSP) is described as flawed, with estimates suggesting only 20% of intended small-scale farmers actually receive fertilizer, while other portions are re-exported or resold due to poor documentation.

APA

Mulemba, H. (2009). Agriculture: Future Scenarios for Southern Africa – The Livestock Sector in Zambia and Rising Food Prices. International Institute for Sustainable Development. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/ag_scenarios_south_africa_zambia.pdf

Chicago

Mulemba, Humphrey. Agriculture: Future Scenarios for Southern Africa – The Livestock Sector in Zambia and Rising Food Prices. International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2009. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/ag_scenarios_south_africa_zambia.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Mulemba |first1=Humphrey |title=Agriculture: Future Scenarios for Southern Africa – The Livestock Sector in Zambia and Rising Food Prices |publisher=International Institute for Sustainable Development |date=2009 |url=https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/ag_scenarios_south_africa_zambia.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{mulemba2009agriculture, author = {Mulemba, Humphrey}, title = {{Agriculture: Future Scenarios for Southern Africa – The Livestock Sector in Zambia and Rising Food Prices}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2009}, url = {https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/ag_scenarios_south_africa_zambia.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }