Maize
The Crop Forecast Survey estimated maize production between 2.0 and 3.7 million tonnes in every season from 2010/11 to 2024/25 except the drought season 2023/241234. In 2023/24 farmers planted 2.21 million hectares, but only 684,402 hectares were expected to be harvested and production fell by 53.7% to 1.51 million tonnes5. The post-harvest survey later measured 1.46 million tonnes6. The 2024/25 harvest recovered to 3.87 million tonnes on post-harvest data, and the forecast for 2025/26 is 4.94 million tonnes on 2.36 million hectares planted, of which 4.66 million tonnes from small and medium-scale farms7.
The area planted to maize rose by 74% between 2010/11 and 2025/26, while yields per harvested hectare stayed between 2.2 and 2.8 tonnes17. The survey prints a yield of 4.62 tonnes per hectare planted for large-scale farms in 2025/267. Production growth reflects mainly the larger area, as yields per harvested hectare changed little.
Other crops
Soybean production rose from 117,000 tonnes in 2010/11 to 760,000 tonnes in 2022/23 and a forecast of 453,000 tonnes for 2025/261177. Groundnuts, sunflower and mixed beans are smallholder cash and food crops. Wheat is irrigated and grown on large farms in the dry season, and its forecast fell from 277,000 tonnes in 2022/23 to 82,000 tonnes in 2025/26177. Seed cotton fell from 270,000 tonnes in 2011/12 to 9,072 tonnes in 2023/24 and a forecast of 1,930 tonnes for 2025/26857. The survey forecasts 3.3 million tonnes of fresh cassava roots for 2025/267. Sugar cane production, which the survey does not cover, reached 4.9 million tonnes in 202419.
| Crop | 2023/24 (t) | 2024/25 (t) | 2025/26 (t) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maize | 1,511,143 | 3,655,646 | 4,937,605 |
| Soybeans | 169,700 | 288,793 | 453,304 |
| Groundnuts | 87,655 | 101,884 | 149,918 |
| Sunflower | 44,128 | 115,011 | 70,611 |
| Wheat (irrigated) | 198,886 | 129,524 | 81,822 |
| Rice (paddy) | 24,566 | 39,457 | 71,938 |
| Mixed beans | 38,937 | 38,382 | 50,477 |
| Millet | 15,390 | 24,133 | 23,606 |
| Sorghum | 2,865 | 13,795 | 14,046 |
| Seed cotton | 9,072 | β | 1,930 |
| Virginia tobacco | 14,190 | β | β |
| Burley tobacco | 6,578 | β | β |
| Cassava (fresh roots) | 3,127,778 | 3,167,650 | 3,299,829 |
Livestock and fish
The 2023 Livestock Survey counted 5.12 million cattle, 5.57 million goats and 1.61 million pigs, against 3.71 million cattle in the 2017/18 census2021. The 2024 Integrated Agriculture Survey, which used a different design and covered the drought year, counted 3.97 million cattle6. Animal disease is a recurring risk, and anthrax outbreaks in eleven districts of Southern, Western and Eastern provinces led to blanket cattle vaccination in 202322. Milk production reached 525,400 tonnes in 2024 on FAO data19.
Fish farming produced 89,000 tonnes in 2024, against 10,300 tonnes in 2010, while capture fisheries were 108,000 tonnes23. The government estimated a national fish deficit of about 70,000 tonnes a year in 2022, and fish imports, mainly from Namibia, were US$168 million in 20242425.
| Survey (reference date) | Cattle | Goats | Sheep | Pigs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017/18 Livestock and Aquaculture Census (Jan 2018) | 3,714,667 | 3,583,696 | 170,262 | 1,082,765 |
| 2022 Livestock Survey (30 Apr 2022) | 4,698,972 | 4,455,860 | 260,560 | 1,160,842 |
| 2023 Livestock Survey (30 Apr 2023) | 5,115,495 | 5,568,730 | 308,354 | 1,613,248 |
| 2024 Integrated Agriculture Survey (31 Dec 2024) | 3,973,754 | 3,767,031 | 234,370 | 668,518 |
| Item | Zambia 2024 | World rank 2024 | Share of world 2024 | World rank 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cassava, fresh (t) | 3,127,778 | 19 | 0.91% | 18 |
| Sugar cane (t) | 4,893,717 | 31 | 0.25% | 32 |
| Unmanufactured tobacco (t) | 20,768 | 27 | 0.34% | 18 |
| Goats (head) | 6,011,286 | 33 | 0.51% | 36 |
| Soya beans (t) | 169,700 | 34 | 0.04% | 14 |
| Groundnuts, excl. shelled (t) | 87,655 | 35 | 0.15% | 25 |
| Maize (t) | 1,511,143 | 53 | 0.12% | 35 |
| Cattle (head) | 4,887,687 | 53 | 0.31% | 53 |
Trade
The map shows where Zambia's agri-food products go and where they come from. In 2024 Zambia reported US$1,000.5 million of agri-food exports and US$907.2 million of imports25. Members of the Southern African Development Community took 81.1% of exports and supplied 70.9% of imports. The Democratic Republic of the Congo bought US$431 million, mainly beverages, sugar, flour and bakery products, vegetable oils and dairy products, and South Africa supplied US$388 million25. Tobacco went to South Africa, Switzerland and Malawi, while Namibia supplied most of the imported fish25.
Exports rose from US$533 million in 2019 to more than US$1 billion in 2022β2024, led by tobacco, feed and processed food29. Cereal exports vary with the harvest and with export controls. They were US$220 million in 2015 and US$49 million in 2024, when the drought cut supply and cereal imports reached US$160 million29. Zambia restricted maize exports in the 2024/25 marketing season, introduced quota-based exports in May 2025 and removed the remaining restrictions in April 20263031.
| Rank | Export partner | Exports | Import partner | Imports |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | DR Congo | 431.2 | South Africa | 387.9 |
| 2 | Zimbabwe | 125.3 | Namibia | 169.0 |
| 3 | South Africa | 122.4 | Argentina | 41.4 |
| 4 | Switzerland | 58.3 | Tanzania | 36.9 |
| 5 | Tanzania | 47.8 | Malaysia | 32.2 |
| 6 | Malawi | 42.4 | Australia | 31.3 |
| 7 | Kenya | 30.5 | Mozambique | 21.8 |
| 8 | Uganda | 16.0 | Zimbabwe | 20.1 |
| 9 | Botswana | 13.1 | India | 18.2 |
| 10 | Spain | 12.7 | Singapore | 16.0 |
| Total, HS 01β24 | 1,000.5 | Total, HS 01β24 | 907.2 |
Prices
Maize and mealie meal prices follow the harvest. After the 2023/24 drought the national average price of a 25 kg bag of breakfast mealie meal rose to K364.37 in March 2025, against K161.16 in September 2022, and fell to K236.34 by September 2026 after the 2025 and 2026 harvests343536. Annual food inflation reached 20.6% in February 2025 and was 5.8% in September 2026, when overall inflation was 6.1%36. Annual average inflation was 15.0% in 2024 and 14.0% in 202537.
Sources cited on this page
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