Status: active

Zambia is currently facing food insecurity as evidenced by the continuous increase in prices of staple foods. The increase in the cost of inputs which began in May 2020 sparked by COVID 19 which created significant disruptions to the movement off fertilizer and other inputs into smallholder markets.This initial price hike was projected to be temporary—with expectations that global supplies would come back online to meet a pent-up demand—and prices would decline by the 1st or 2nd quarter of 2022. However the Russia-Ukraine war prolonged the price spike.Additionally, in 2022- 2023 farming season, Zambia experienced climate change related disasters which resulted in 91,981 ha of crop damage from heavy rains and flash floods, 219,610 hectares of crop land was destroyed by dry spell and additional 8,021 hectares of crop land was affected by Fall Army worm damage. A total of 319,611 hectares of crop land was affected by climate and insect pest related crop loses which affect to rural household food security and household financial status.Zambian food crop farmers are therefore in need of affordable fertilizer to improve productivity and offset some of the productivity loss during the 2020-2022 period.