Zambia’s agriculture has the potential of enhancing economic growth and reducing poverty. Good agricultural policies and a well performing agricultural sector translates into significant improvements in the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), employment generation, and broadens the country’s tax base since the livelihoods of the majority of Zambians depend on agricultural-related activities such as farming. The sector, if well developed, should contribute significantly to welfare improvement. In the colonial period, the government paid particular attention to provinces which were accessible by railways and also to large estate farmers within these provinces. After independence, attempts were made to redress the imbalance between these provinces and the less accessible ones.

This essay sets to highlight certain agricultural policy considerations which were taken into account in the evolution and development of Zambia’s post independence. It will further indicate which policy direction the author would have taken if he were part and parcel of the Zambian team responsible for policy formulation. In trying to discuss this, the author will start by defining what an agricultural policy is, highlight agricultural policy considerations in the post independence regime of the Second Republic (1964-1991) and also the policy direction the author would have taken if he were part and parcel of its formulation and draw a conclusion.

An agricultural policy usually comprises a wide range of topics, including agricultural health, research and extension, input supply, rural credit, land reform and improvement, rural infrastructure, market regulation and development, trade promotion, and sector organizations (farmer organizations, cooperatives, commodity boards, and the like). Coordination between these various topics is important, because many of them complement each