Food Systems Under Stress (FSUS) Project. Country Profile: Zambia

Abstract

This paper is one in a series of five from participating countries in the Food Systems Under Stress (FSUS) programme, the initial phase of which began in May, 1993. Other participating countries in this programme are Botswana, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe. Among the objectives of the FSUS programme are:-

- To develop with regard to areas where food systems are particularly stressed, a cross disciplinary base and research approach for innovative, field-based inquiries into natural resource management and food production/acquisition and consumption; - To stimulate research into the often neglected socio-economic and institutional dimensions of food systems under stress; and - To assist in the creation of strategies that will empower resource poor communities to articulate their needs clearly and effectively so that they become co-authors of the policies that affect them.

The FSUS programme is expected to run for 3 years during which it is envisaged to achieve these objectives. One of the activities of the first phase of the programme is for the participating countries to document the current situation in their countries with regard to food security, to trace the evolution of national food policy and national nutritional policy; and to draw the linkages between the two. These are some of the objectives of this paper.