Development Potential of Smallholder Livestock Production Systems in Zambia

The ongoing processes of urbanization, population expansion and sustained income growth in many parts of the developing countries point to the potential of the livestock sector in providing meaningful pro-poor growth. Particularly in Africa, the meat consumption is expected to increase to 34.8 million tons by 2050 from about 10.5 million tons in 2005/07. This increase in demand creates a host of opportunities for smallholder farmers who have largely been excluded from the growth process. However, this opportunity is often underutilized, and this raises a critical question: Under what conditions can smallholder farmers benefit from the development of livestock value chains? This study uses the case of Zambia to address this analytical question by i) identifying the factors affecting the moving into and out of livestock production, ii) by determining the competitiveness of smallholder livestock production, and iii) by uncovering the governance challenges and the political economy of livestock policy.