Food Security in Zambia

Since it’s summer and I have gardening and tomatoes on my mind, I am going to share a little story about food security. Last month, I was on assignment with AED for two weeks in Lusaka, Zambia. One of their partner organizations, FANTA, creates policies about food security and distribution of crops amongst locals. I was able to visit a couple of medium size farms where the owners are able to profit from selling product to markets, but also self-sustain by generating food for themselves. Zambian’s have a

60% + unemployment rate, so being able to eat a nutritious meal everyday is a hard and expensive task.

A woman named Anita Mwemba, a hard working and dedicated farmer has helped her family climb out of poverty by producing vegetables. Her 13 yr. old daughter, Luyando Mwemba helps her mom on the farm when she is not in school. When asked what she likes most about being part of a farming family, she replied, “Eating and having food available to them and thankfulness for being able to attend school on the farming income”.

The produce is then sold in bulk to ‘Mamas’ that work at the Market and sell the individual crops for slightly more income. The common Zambian, buys dried foods and large quantities to keep the price down. FANTA is working on policies to help this process and lower prices.