Zambian Smallholder Behavioral Responses to Food Reserve Agency Activities

INTRODUCTION: More than two decades after the initiation of agricultural market reforms in eastern and southern Africa (ESA), governments in the region are increasingly using parastatal grain marketing boards (GMBs) and/or strategic grain reserves (SGRs) to directly influence the prices faced by farmers and consumers (Jayne Chapoto, and Govereh 2007). In Zambia, the government through the Food Reserve Agency, an SGR/GMB, purchased nearly 400,000 MT of maize from smallholders in 2006/07 and 2007/08, or more than 50% of the maize marketed by this group. This marked a sharp increase in the level of FRA purchases: between its establishment in 1996 and the 2005/06 marketing year, FRA’s annual maize purchases only once exceeded 100,000 MT. The FRA ramped up its maize purchases even more in 2010/11, and bought 878,570 MT or more than 80% of expected smallholder maize sales.