Agricultural policy and its impact on food security: the Zambian case

Abstract

The agricultural policy objectives of the Zambian Government, as stated in the Third National Development Plan are; to achieve a satisfactory level of food self-sufficiency; increase export crop production to broaden the export base of the economy; and, to promote the economic development of the rural areas. Through the various national development plans initiated since independence in 1964, the government placed increasing emphasis on agriculture in an effort to "minimize the inherited imbalance between the urban and rural sectors and reduce the countries dependence on copper exports" (Zambia Government 1979, p. 139). Government has used several major policy instruments to achieve the above mentioned policy objectives. This paper analyzes the impact of four of these policy instruments on food security over the past five years, namely: price controls, crop marketing policies and practices, consumer and producer subsidies, and foreign exchange controls.