Food sector transformation and standards in Zambia: smallholder farmer participation in the tomato sector

Report prepared for USAID under RAISE SPS DIAGNOSTIC REPORT #40, FEBRUARY 2008

This paper contributes to the literature on the farm-level impact of the current wave of food sector modernization in developing countries. The research questions, upon which this paper focuses, are: (1) what is the nature of this food sector modernization, in particular with respect to standards; and (2) who are the farmers that have responded to the new market opportunity created by the rise of supermarkets in Zambia (taking the case of tomatoes)? The analysis presented here is based primarily on interviews with key informants in the private, public and non-governmental sector and on unique data from a survey of 93 tomato producers.

Available for download at http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PNADL774.pdf