By Peter Kayombo
THE Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (UN) has allocated US$500,000 to the Catalyzing Transformative and Sustainable Food Systems in Zambia Project, an initiative aimed at strengthening the country’s food systems and building a more sustainable and resilient agricultural sector. The funding will support interventions designed to improve food and nutrition security, enhance livelihoods and strengthen the capacity of key stakeholders across Zambia’s food system.
The two-year project will be implemented in Solwezi and Zambezi districts of North-Western Province, targeting vulnerable farming households and strengthening the capacity of agricultural and nutrition extension workers.
Speaking during the official launch of the project, “Catalyzing Transformative and Sustainable Food Systems in Zambia” (CATRAS-FS), Permanent Secretary-Administration in the Office of the Vice-President, Lillian Kapusana, said the project will provide an integrated approach to addressing challenges affecting food production, nutrition, food safety, and climate resilience.
“The significance of this project lies not only in the activities to be implemented, but in the manner in which it brings institutions together around a common food-systems agenda and a shared set of results,” she said.
She said transforming the food system is key to advancing the Government’s Grow Zambia agenda by improving food and nutrition security, boosting agricultural productivity, promoting value addition, creating sustainable livelihoods and driving inclusive economic growth.
Ms Kapusana said Zambia continued to face low dietary diversity, climate variability, post-harvest losses and market-access constraints, while food-safety risks and weak traceability systems remained challenges.
She said although the country has made progress in reducing stunting from 35 percent in 2019 to 32 percent in 2026, the progress was not sufficient to achieve Sustainable Development Goal Two, which seeks to end hunger by 2030.
“The challenges facing Zambia’s food systems are interconnected,” Ms Kapusana said, stressing the need for coordinated action across sectors rather than isolated interventions.”
Meanwhile, FAO Representative in Zambia, Suze Filippini, said transforming food systems requires sustained collaboration among Government, development partners, the private sector, civil society, academia, farmers and communities.
“Transforming food systems cannot be achieved by one institution, one sector or one project working alone. It requires strong national leadership, effective coordination and sustained collaboration among the Government, development partners, the private sector, civil society, academia, farmers and the communities whose food security, nutrition and livelihoods depend on our food systems,” she said.
She said the project will support nutrition-sensitive and climate-smart agriculture, strengthen food-safety systems, improve market linkages and strengthen food-systems governance.
“The project will also promote nutrition-sensitive and climate-smart agriculture, strengthen food safety systems, improve market linkages and support the operationalisation of the Animal Identification and Traceability System,” she added. –NAIS