With grants provided by Feed the Future through the United States African Development Foundation (USADF), 1,800 smallholder farmers in Zambia’s Eastern Province are strengthening their capacity to supply groundnuts to oil and nut butter processors, translating into improved food security, nutrition and economic opportunities.
The grants are helping to increase the capacity of both the farmers and processing groups in one of Zambia’s poorest provinces, where the oilseed and legume value chains are instrumental not only to food security but empowering local women, who play a prominent role in production, marketing and trade of oils and butters. Now local associations, such as the Petauke District Farmers Association, support farmers with quality control training, agricultural extension services, improved seeds, and a guaranteed market for their nutritious crop.
“This project has provided me with an assured market for my groundnuts without any challenges. After selling my crops, I can for the first time reinvest in buying animals to help me plow my field,” says Regina Mwale, a small-scale groundnut farmer.
The Petauke District Farmers Association will also supply groundnut oil to the children’s wing of the Petauke District General Hospital to be used as high-nutrition cooking oil, as an estimated 64 percent of children in Eastern Province exhibit signs of stunting.
Zambia is one of more than 20 Sub-Saharan African countries where USADF supports local economic development to improve incomes and livelihoods among marginalized populations.
Learn more about USADF-Zambia or follow USADF on Facebook and Twitter for photos of USADF groundnut projects in Zambia.
When Peter Nieuwoudt first started his company, he drove around Zambia in his truck searching for farmers to be part of Jungle Beat’s grower network, pitching a tent in any village he found himself in when the sun went down. Today, Jungle Beat buys groundnuts from 11,000 smallholder farmers.
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