Profile of Zambia’s Smallholders: Where and Who are the Potential Beneficiaries of Agricultural Commercialization?

Understanding the heterogeneity of Zambia’s rural households and their different potential as agricultural producers is critical to designing strategies for commercially viable smallholders. The objective of this paper is to help contribute to efforts to identify who and where are the Zambian smallholders that have the highest potential to benefit from agricultural commercialization, and to identify other groups of rural households that require alternative strategies for poverty reduction. This paper draws on the existing literature (both quantitative and qualitative analyses) to try and classify higher and lower potential households. It seems that many rural households can not be expected to directly benefit from agricultural commercialization and will require safety nets. Other smallholders might be able to achieve food security and more diversified incomes over time. Even smallholders with potential to be more market-oriented will require significant assistance to make the transformation into commercial farmers. This paper should be viewed as the beginning of a process to better identify the potential of different households to help policymakers design differentiated policies and investment strategies that can be targeted based on these differences Authors’ Affiliation and Sponsorship Paul B. Siegel, Consultant, The World Bank. [email protected]. [email protected] The Africa Region Working Paper Series expedites dissemination of applied research and policy studies with potential for improving economic performance and social conditions in Sub-Saharan Africa. The Series publishes papers at preliminary stages to stimulate timely discussion within the Region and among client countries, donors, and the policy research community. The editorial board for the Series consists of representatives from professional families appointed by the Region’s Sector Directors. For additional information, please contact Paula White, managing editor of the series, (81131), Email: [email protected] or visit the Web site: http://www.worldbank.org/afr/wps/index.htm. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this paper are entirely those of the author(s), they do not necessarily represent the views of the World Bank Group, its Executive Directors, or the countries they represent and should not be attributed to them. Profile of Zambia’s Smallholders: Where and Who are the Potential Beneficiaries of Agricultural Commercialization?