Zambia Agribusiness and Trade Project

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Grain silos in Mpelembe ; agriculture is an important industry in Zambia

The Zambia Agribusiness and Trade Project ( ZATP for short ) is a project of the Zambian government with support from the World Bank , which aims to improve the productivity and market access of agricultural businesses.

aims

The reason for the origin of the project is the low efficiency in agriculture and the great poverty of farmers, which is typical for many developing countries . More than half of the employed Zambians work in agriculture, but this only generates around 5% of the Zambian gross domestic product . This situation represents a significant obstacle to development and has therefore been identified as a focus of action by the Zambian government and the World Bank. The ZATP is intended to further diversify the Zambian economy , thereby enabling long-term growth.

The ZATP is aimed at small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the field of agribusiness . In doing so, the farmers are supported directly on the one hand, but also other companies along the agricultural value chain on the other . According to the World Bank, the project is divided into three components:

  1. The improvement of market access for small and medium-sized companies from the agribusiness. Better market access should increase income and efficiency along the entire value chain and thus combat poverty and the inefficiency of Zambian agriculture
  2. The strengthening of the institutional and regulatory framework is intended to help create a stable and efficient market
  3. Accompanying the project through monitoring, evaluation and impact assessment

The project is to run until June 30, 2022 and, compared to January 2017, will increase gross sales of the beneficiary SMEs by an average of 14%, while exports in agribusiness are expected to increase by 4% during this period. A total of 30,000 people should benefit directly from the project's measures, 13,000 of them women. In addition, food standards are to be introduced that are to be implemented by at least 50% of the subsidized businesses by the end of 2022. The ZATP is part of Vision 2030 , a national development strategy for Zambia.

Involved

On the Zambian side, the project is being accompanied and supported by the Ministry of Trade, Commerce and Industry. The incumbent Minister Margaret Mwanakatwe , who officially launched the project on October 4, 2017 , is primarily responsible for this. A Project Implementation Unit (PIU) was set up in the responsible ministry to implement the project. The World Bank is also involved in the project as the most important donor. The World Bank has provided US $ 40 million through the International Development Organization to support the project. She also accompanies the project through regular reports and evaluations. In the course of the project, the increased productivity of Zambian agriculture should also attract private investors. The World Bank expects at least US $ 5 million in private investment by the end of the project.

implementation

The implementation of the project and the measures it contains are currently an ongoing process. The financing from the World Bank has already been completely decided, so that US $ 40 million is available for the project. A five-day conference was held in March 2018, where companies were informed about the project and had the chance to participate. As part of its regular assessment, the World Bank announced that as of December 31, 2019, 1,600 households in the agricultural sector had already benefited from the ZATP. At the same time, the World Bank rated the progress made in implementing the project as moderately satisfactory .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Projects. Ministry of Commerce, Trade and Industry, accessed January 5, 2020 .
  2. ↑ MINISTRY OF COMMERCE, TRADE AND INDUSTRY (ed.): ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL MANAGEMENT FRAMEWORK . Lusaka September 2016.
  3. ↑ World Bank (Ed.): Zambia Agribusiness and Trade - Competitiveness Policy Evaluation Impact Evaluation Brief .
  4. ^ Editor: Zambia: Government launches the Zambia Agribusiness and trade project. In: LusakaTimes.com. Retrieved January 5, 2020 (UK English).
  5. ↑ Kateule Nakazwe on January 15, 2018 in News: Bootcamp Launched to Promote Agribusiness in Zambia. In: BongoHive. January 15, 2018, accessed January 5, 2020 (American English).
  6. ^ Zambia Agribusiness and Trade Project. Retrieved January 5, 2020 .