Zambia (view map)

Zambia is a large landlocked country in central southern Africa which is home to over 11 million people. The country’s main exports are copper, minerals and tobacco and following independence in 1964 Zambia was widely thought to have the potential to be one of Africa’s richest countries. Today however, it is one of the poorest countries in the world with an average life expectancy of just 38 years. Over two thirds of Zambians live on less than 50 pence per day.

Zambia suffered from prolonged droughts in the 1980s and 1990s and was hit by a devastating famine in 2002. A lack of agricultural training, resources and support along with poor infrastructure and disease has hindered the recovery of Zambia’s agricultural sector.

The Zambian economy is heavily reliant on its main natural resource of copper. When copper prices collapsed in the mid 1970s, Zambia was forced to borrow huge sums of money from foreign lenders in order to keep its economy afloat. Despite the reduction in Zambia’s external debt burden and a boom in copper prices in 2007, the subsequent drop in the demand for and price of copper due to the global financial crisis will slow down the economy, affecting the already desperate living conditions of many Zambians.

According to SCIAF’s 2007 report, Undermining Development, Zambians were not seeing the benefits of increasing copper prices because foreign companies were extracting much of the profits from the industry. Zambia’s largest copper mining company, Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) - 79% owned by the London based Vedanta Resources - recorded profits in 2007 that were more than the Zambian government’s spending on health care and social protection combined.

Zambia saw little of these profits as companies like KCM had enjoyed an effective marginal tax rate of 0% and paid mineral royalties of just 0.6%. This changed with a new tax regime introduced by the Zambian government in 2008, which aimed to increase Zambia’s income from its greatest natural resource and will help to fund health and education spending. However, since implementation, the government has faced pressure from mining companies to reduce this tax.

Poverty levels and food insecurity have been made worse by one of the world’s most devastating HIV and AIDS epidemics. In Zambia, around 15% of the population is HIV positive in 2008 alone over 56,000 people died of AIDS. HIV and AIDS have wiped out much of Zambia’s workforce, leaving fewer people to work in the mines and harvest crops.

This reduction in productivity, particularly in the agricultural sector where fewer hands means smaller harvests, does little to reverse Zambia’s desperate situation. Zambia continues to garner support from international bodies, particularly the IMF, thanks mainly to the government’s outward commitment to poverty reduction, and a tighter monetary policy which will help cut inflation, but Zambia’s serious problems are far from over.

SCIAF has been working with partners in Zambia since 1985, supporting agricultural and livelihood recovery work alongside areas of food security and advocacy. In 2009 SCIAF continued to support four partners working in Zambia.