Demand for agriculture-related logistics services in Zambia will grow as government incentives and programmes start bearing fruit.
After two years of drought the country is also expecting to have a maize surplus. Imports of other foodstuff such as ground nuts, sorghum, rice, millet and beans (including soya beans) will also fall due to increased harvests forecast by the department of agriculture.
Production of sweet potatoes and seed cotton is expected to be down due to farmers switching to other crops.
The production of burley tobacco is forecast to increase by 30% to 8 416 metric tons from 6476 metric tons, while production of Virginia is forecast to reduce by around 3.5% to 12 079 metric tons from 12 540 metric tons, according to department forecasts.
In March 2017 the government introduced its “Second National Agricultural Policy - 2020” to stimulate investment in the agricultural sector and to provide technical support to farmers.