Input technological change, fundamental to rural transformation, sometimes bypasses some rural populations because farmers are often reluctant to use new inputs due to production and price risks that could render their use unprofitable. The level of wealth of the household significantly relates...

Despite some overlap between farmers’ observations and climate patterns found in the meteorological records, the meteorological data do not support the perception that is an increase in intra-season variability in rainfall. Therefore, a complete picture of climate change requires contributions...

With only a few months remaining, Zambia still has a long way to achieving the millennium development goal of halving the number of stunted children by the end of 2015. Almost half of the children in Zambia remain undernourished and 40% of them have stunted growth, a long term malnutrition...

1) Export diversification has long been at the centre of Zambia’s economic diversification policies. This article focuses on the coffee sector as a potentially important source of export diversification and examines its supply response to changes in various incentives. 2) Zambian coffee...

Because gender roles and relations are dynamic, programs built on a solid up-to-date understanding of how men and women share labor responsibilities and the proceeds from their agricultural activities have the potential to bring forth positive outcomes. Better information on gender-based...

This paper traces the trajectories of successful commercial smallholders operating under differing sets of market institutions. Analysis focuses on maize, cotton, and horticulture, three widely marketed crops with strikingly different market institutions. Maize receives intensive government...

Forests support rural livelihoods and food security in many developing countries by providing critical sources of food, medicine, shelter, building materials, fuels, and cash income. The increasing demand for forest products has enhanced rural livelihoods and enabled the expansion of domestic...

Livestock products and fish form an important component of urban consumers’ diet accounting for about one third of the total monthly budgetary expenditure on food. The budgetary share of livestock products increases with affluence or household income while the opposite is true for fish; 2) The...