Factors Contributing to Zambia's 2010 Maize Bumper Harvest

William Burke, Thomas Jayne () and Antony Chapoto

No 97036, Food Security Collaborative Working Papers from Michigan State University, Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics

Abstract: Zambia’s maize crop grew by roughly 48% between the 2009 and 2010 harvests, leading to the largest crop recorded in recent history. The 2009 maize harvest was also very good, making the 48% rise in 2010 even more remarkable. The forces driving that increase, however, remain widely debated. Many in government and media have attributed the recent production increase to the government’s fertilizer subsidy program as well as to the state’s recent efforts to raise maize prices through the operations of the Food Reserve Agency. Others have argued that the bumper harvest is partially due to the adoption of conservation farming techniques by farmers. Still others attribute the maize production growth mainly to favorable weather. Unfortunately, none of these claims have been backed up by solid evidence-based research.

Keywords: Community/Rural/Urban Development; Consumer/Household Economics; Crop Production/Industries; Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety; Food Security and Poverty; Productivity Analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 29
Date: 2010-09
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (19)

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Working Paper: Factors Contributing to Zambia’s 2010 Maize Bumper Harvest (2010)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:midcwp:97036

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.97036

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