Land and land-based natural resources are the foundation of livelihoods for millions of people and are related to social, cultural and spiritual identity. This is particularly the case for drylands people, who, due to low and variable rainfall and water availability, have developed adaptive strategies in response to seasonal, climatic and environmental change. Gender role norms play an important role in these dynamics, where men and women often undertake different livelihood activities to manage difficult ecological conditions. 

The gender-responsive implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development presents an enormous opportunity to achieve gender equality, end poverty and hunger, combat inequalities within and among countries, build peaceful, just and inclusive societies, protect and promote human rights, and ensure the lasting protection of the planet and its natural resources. The SDGs provide an important framework for collective action to achieve gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls and the realization of their full enjoyment of all human rights.

The Rural Agricultural Livelihood Survey (RALS) is a new panel survey designed to obtain a comprehensive picture of Zambia’s small- and medium-scale farming sector using the 2010 census sampling frame. An earlier household panel survey for rural Zambia was the Supplemental Surveys (SS) of 2001, 2004 and 2008, which enabled the publication of a large set of important research outputs by IAPRI, Michigan State University and a range of Zambian and international partner organizations.

Most women in Zambia do not enjoy the same land rights as men. Zambia’s Lands Act provides support for women who hold statutory land, but the law does not apply to customary land. Most land is held under custom and most customary tenure systems do not provide women with significant land rights — even when they do, traditional institutions often do not effectively implement the rules.

This report was commissioned by UN-Habitat to review the laws and land tenure of a selected number of southern African countries. It involved the appointment of country specialists who researched and produced country chapters for their respective countries namely, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia and Zambia. A regional expert was appointed to produce a regional overview to serve as a source document for the country reports, as well as provide overall coordination of the project. The project was carried out over a period of roughly one year, which began in March 2004.

The use of modern seed varieties and other improved technologies is essential for farmers to significantly increase their crop harvest and improve their livelihoods. All over Sub-Saharan Africa, agriculture productivity growth has remained very low over many decades irrespective of gender of the farmer. However, studies have shown that women farmers fare worse than the male counterparts in terms of adoption of improved technology and productivity.

There is increasing awareness that integrating gender into development frameworks is critical for effective implementation of development strategies. In working to alleviate rural poverty, the CGIAR Research Program on Aquatic Agricultural Systems (AAS) recognizes that “business as usual” gender integration approaches will not deliver lasting and widespread improvements in agricultural productivity, poverty reduction and food security. In response, AAS operationalized a gender transformative approach (see Cole et al. 2014a, 2014b).

BarotseFloodplain, Western Province of Zambia
•Multiple demographic, socioeconomic and climatic challenges and vulnerabilities
•Variety of livelihood opportunities: flood –provide fish & aquatic plants; water subside –fertile ground to cultivate crops
•Cattle, forest products, fish trade, piecework

Zambia remains committed to the socio-economic development planning of the country as reflected by the return to development planning in 2005. The Seventh National Development Plan (7NDP) for the period 2017- 2021 is the successor to the Revised Sixth National Development Plan, 2013-2016 (R-SNDP) following its expiry in December 2016. The Plan, like the three national development plans (NDPs) that preceded it, is aimed at attaining the long-term objectives as outlined in the Vision 2030 of becoming a “prosperous middle-income country by 2030”.

In recent years, Zambia has witnessed increased interest from private investors in acquiring land for

agriculture. As elsewhere, large-scale land acquisitions are often accompanied with promises of capital

investments to build infrastructure, bring new technologies and know-how, create employment, and

improve market access, among other benefits. But agricultural investments create risks as well as

opportunities, for instance in relation to loss of land for family farmers. While much debate on ‘land

Despite extensive research into rural development in sub-Saharan Africa, little is known about structural transformation1 in rural areas on the continent. Zambia was chosen as one of three case study countries2 in order to identify and to analyse rural transformation processes and their main influencing forces aiming at defining strategies and measures to influence such processes towards social inclusiveness and environmental sustainability until 2030.
Zambia shows a persisting copper-dependent mono-structure with selective transformation processes

Land, and in particular agricultural land, is central to livelhoods in rural Zambia. Zambia is characterised by a dual legal system of customary and statutory law and by dual land tenure, with state land and customary land. A first wave of socialist-oriented reforms took place after independence in 1964, which abolished previously existing freehold land in favour of leasehold. Subsequent changes in government policies under the influence of structural adjustment programmes and a new government in 1991 paved the way for a market-driven land reform.