World biofuel production has been increasing to improve energy security and mitigate global warming. Southern Africa's bioenergy demand could increase with South Africa's planned fuel blending mandates, triggering increased demand for feedstocks and agricultural land. Ensuring sustained...

In this paper, we examine the impact of soil conservation adoption on gender-specific resource allocations within households in Zambia. The extension of funding of conservation farming (CF) training sessions in 2007 in specific districts in Zambia provides variation in CF takeup. We use this...

Rapid population growth, urbanization, and income growth are triggering increased demand for high-value agricultural products across Southern Africa with scope for gains from trade and regional integration. We analyse the animal feed to poultry value chain in Zambia focusing on the industry...

Across the world, people in urban rather than rural areas are more likely to support gender equality. To explain this global trend, this paper engages with geographically diverse literature and comparative rural-urban ethnographic research from Zambia. It argues that people living in...

Expansion of biofuels production and consumption at the regional and national levels relies on both supportive energy prices and policy interventions. Despite enthusiasm for policy interventions to stimulate biofuel production in Southern African countries in the mid-2000s, the years since have...

The need for energy security and climate change mitigation have increased blending mandates worldwide; in Southern Africa, demand for biofuels could increase following South Africa's planned blending mandates. However, land constraints limit local industry expansion, with demand likely to be met...

Given unsuccessful experiences to date in establishing large-scale investments for biofuels in Zambia, this paper explores the social constraints that may hinder future efforts to use the same models. The author reviews the legal framework that has guided the establishment of most agricultural...

It is estimated that biofuel demand in South Africa will increase to 1,550 million litres by 2025 following the introduction of mandatory blending rates in 2014. Land and water constraints, however, limit domestic supply ability. Zambia, due to abundance of land, suitable climate, supportive...

Given unsuccessful experiences to date in establishing large-scale investments for biofuels in Zambia, this paper explores the social constraints that may hinder future efforts to use the same models. The author reviews the legal framework that has guided the establishment of most agricultural...

Expansion of biofuels production and consumption at the regional and national levels relies on both supportive energy prices and policy interventions. Despite enthusiasm for policy interventions to stimulate biofuel production in Southern African countries in the mid-2000s, the years since have...

The need for energy security and climate change mitigation have increased blending mandates worldwide; in Southern Africa, demand for biofuels could increase following South Africa's planned blending mandates. However, land constraints limit local industry expansion, with demand likely to be met...

Standard labor market models predict that the likelihood of employment increases, hours worked increase, and individuals transition from less-skilled and temporary jobs to more skilled and more stable employment as they age. I examine the association between age and transactional sex work using...

It is estimated that biofuel demand in South Africa will increase to 1,550 million litres by 2025 following the introduction of mandatory blending rates in 2014. Land and water constraints, however, limit domestic supply ability. Zambia, due to abundance of land, suitable climate, supportive...

Large-scale agricultural investments (LSAIs) typically depend on strong formal institutions and market-oriented intensive farming, whereas informal institutions tend to characterize the traditional villages located around them. We investigate changes to social capital in such villages when LSAIs...

This paper examines the rise of the social protection agenda in Zambia, and demonstrates that this has two alternative drivers: shifting dynamics within Zambia's political settlement and the promotional efforts of a transnational policy coalition. We compare the cases of social cash transfers...

In this paper, we analyse which channels influence individual preferences concerning the choice of the official language in Zambia. We develop a theoretical framework, which is tested using data on elicited beliefs about the effects of changes in Zambia's language policy on schooling outcomes,...

This paper aims at contributing to the discussions on the challenge of transitioning from precarious informal employment to more protected employment. This paper looks into a rather under-researched area - the role of trade unions in facilitating this process of 'transitioning' as well as in...

In this paper, we analyse which channels influence individual preferences concerning the choice of the official language in Zambia. We develop a theoretical framework, which is tested using data on elicited beliefs about the effects of changes in Zambia's language policy on schooling outcomes,...

This paper aims at contributing to the discussions on the challenge of transitioning from precarious informal employment to more protected employment. This paper looks into a rather under-researched area - the role of trade unions in facilitating this process of 'transitioning' as well as in...

Large-scale agricultural investments (LSAIs) typically depend on strong formal institutions and market-oriented intensive farming, whereas informal institutions tend to characterize the traditional villages located around them. We investigate changes to social capital in such villages when LSAIs...

This paper examines the rise of the social protection agenda in Zambia, and demonstrates that this has two alternative drivers: shifting dynamics within Zambia's political settlement and the promotional efforts of a transnational policy coalition. We compare the cases of social cash transfers...

The last decade has seen a resurgence of parastatal crop marketing institutions in sub-Saharan Africa, many of which cite improving food security and incomes as key goals. However, there is limited empirical evidence on the welfare effects of these programs. This article considers one such...

In this paper, we apply the first-order dominance (FOD) approach to assessing multidimensional welfare to analyse multidimensional poverty in Zambia in 1996, 2006, and 2010. In addition to evaluating welfare across time and space, we extend the methodology to evaluate welfare by rural...

In Zambia, every year some parts of the maize fields are abandoned post-planting. Reasons for this are not clearly known. In this paper, we examine the influence of soil and climatic factors on crop abandonment using a six-year (2007–2012) panel data by modeling the planted-to-harvested ratio...

The last decade has seen a resurgence of parastatal crop marketing institutions in sub-Saharan Africa, many of which cite improving food security and incomes as key goals. However, there is limited empirical evidence on the welfare effects of these programs. This article considers one such...

In this paper, we apply the first-order dominance (FOD) approach to assessing multidimensional welfare to analyse multidimensional poverty in Zambia in 1996, 2006, and 2010. In addition to evaluating welfare across time and space, we extend the methodology to evaluate welfare by rural...

The market structure in Zambia’s sugar industry is highly concentrated, leading to consumers paying higher prices than expected given the low cost of sugar production in the country.

The hypothesis that ethnic diversity has a negative impact on public goods provision is widely accepted. Notably, most work on this issue fails to distinguish adequately between national versus subnational governance. We find that subnational empirical ev

The objective of this study was to obtain an understanding of local views on the characteristics of poor and wealthy households, as perceived by the rural residents. The study was conducted in Magobbo area which is located in Mazabuka District in Zambia’s Southern Province. Qualitative...

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has a stated goal of lifting more than a quarter of millions of rural farmers out of poverty in Zambia’s Eastern Province through the implementation of the Feed the Future program (FtF). Part of the program’s goal will be...