Zambia Agribusiness and Trade Project

closed

The development objective of the Agribusiness and Trade Project for Zambia is to contribute to increased market linkages and firm growth in agribusiness. There are three components to the project, the first component being market linkages in agribusiness. This component aims to develop market linkages in agribusiness, focusing on two sets of beneficiaries: ‘emerging and poor farmers and growth-oriented agribusiness SMEs. Project interventions will have particular emphasis on improving the ability of emerging farmers and agribusiness SMEs to sustainably and commercially link into larger markets by structuring support around offtake opportunities that the private sector themselves identify as high potential. A linkages approach increases income, productivity, and employment growth for all those economic actors involved in the value chains where they engage and are directly and indirectly affected by the project activities. The second component is the strengthening the regulatory and institutional framework for agribusiness and trade. The objective of this component is to strengthen the regulatory and institutional framework for agribusiness and trade to assist the development of market linkages in agribusiness. Finally, the third component is the project management and monitoring and evaluation. This will finance the activities of the PIU. The PIU will oversee the implementation of project activities, fiduciary management, M&E, and reporting. In addition, the project will be implemented in such a way that it will be possible to carry out an impact evaluation to assess the additionality of the project. The continuous M&E of the implementation of policies and key programs will be a critical role of the PIU and therefore a strong emphasis will be placed on capacity building.