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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

The Politics Of Maize In Zambia: Who Holds The Keys To Change The Status Quo?, Antony Chapoto, Olipa Zulu-Mbata, Barak D. Hoffman, Chance Kabaghe, Nicholas J. Sitko, Auckland Kuteya, Ballard Zulu Jan 2016

The Politics Of Maize In Zambia: Who Holds The Keys To Change The Status Quo?, Antony Chapoto, Olipa Zulu-Mbata, Barak D. Hoffman, Chance Kabaghe, Nicholas J. Sitko, Auckland Kuteya, Ballard Zulu

Zambia Social Science Journal

As both the national staple food and primary smallholder crop, maize occupies a central position in Zambia’s agricultural political economy. Despite the government’s large subsidies, maize productivity levels remain way below global averages, maize commercialisation in the smallholder sector remains highly concentrated, maize meal prices are highly volatile, and rural poverty remains high. This study uses a political economy framework to better understand the policy-making process, power structures and dynamics involved in the maize sector in order to get a better understanding of who holds the keys to change, and how to influence agricultural policy changes. Net-Map procedure was used …


Agriculture In A Transformative Policy Space: An Introduction, Chewe Nkonde Jan 2016

Agriculture In A Transformative Policy Space: An Introduction, Chewe Nkonde

Zambia Social Science Journal

No abstract provided.


Book Reviews, Ashley Chishiba, Sylvia Jana Harrison Jan 2016

Book Reviews, Ashley Chishiba, Sylvia Jana Harrison

Zambia Social Science Journal

Reviews of: Agriculture in Zambia: Past, Present, and Future, Antony Chapoto and Nicholas J. Sitko eds., 2015 and: Forced to leave: Commercial farming and displacement in Zambia, by Human Rights Watch, 2017.


Conservation Agriculture: Gendered Impacts On Households' Livelihoods, Olipa Zulu-Mbata, Antony Chapoto Jan 2016

Conservation Agriculture: Gendered Impacts On Households' Livelihoods, Olipa Zulu-Mbata, Antony Chapoto

Zambia Social Science Journal

In response to climate change, new technologies resilient to climatic variability have been promoted among smallholder farmers. Conservation Agriculture (CA) has been promoted since the 1990s in sub-Saharan Africa. However, as with any new technology, various factors affect adoption and ultimately the impact of the technology. Gender is one such factor. Both female and male smallholder farmers are faced with numerous constraints to accessing productive resources. Female farmers face more problems in adopting new technology than do male farmers, resulting in few of them adopting them. This in turn reduces the impact that these technologies have on their livelihood. Using …


A Long History Of Low Productivity In Zambia: Is It Time To Do Away With Blanket Recommendations?, Antony Chapoto, Lydia M. Chabala, Olipa N. Lungu Jan 2016

A Long History Of Low Productivity In Zambia: Is It Time To Do Away With Blanket Recommendations?, Antony Chapoto, Lydia M. Chabala, Olipa N. Lungu

Zambia Social Science Journal

Although there have been calls to ramp up efforts to design and implement a fertiliser programme that recognises the spatial variability of soil fertility and climatic conditions in the country, Zambia like most countries in Africa, continues to rely heavily on outdated general fertiliser recommendations, which are uniform across geographic locations and crops. This could be one of the main reasons why Zambia continues to record low crop productivity despite government fertilizer subsidy programmes. Using soil analysis and household data collected in rural Zambia, this study presents a comparative analysis of location-specific fertilizer application versus blanket recommendation to demonstrate why …