Background
The Republic of Zambia is among the countries identified by the UN as being highly vulnerable to rising agricultural commodity and agricultural input prices. Conventional land preparation and cropping practices have been observed to contribute to land degradation and have been a limiting factor in raising agricultural productivity above subsistence level.
Increasing the productivity of agricultural practices, while ensuring environmental sustainability, is a key element in achieving food security and safeguarding against future price shocks.
One way of achieving this is by ensuring that the country's smallholder farmers, who produce roughly 80% of the country's food requirements, engage in environmentally sound and sustainable farming practices such as Conservation Agriculture.
The project seized the opportunity to build on a supportive policy framework for the agricultural sector in order to restore and improve agricultural production among small holding farmers, increasing their production capacity through better use of inputs and improved agricultural practices. Additionally, the project aimed at reducing production costs, especially for maize, to help reinforce Zambia's position on regional and international markets.