Private sector Response to Agricultural Marketing Liberalization in Zambia : A case study of Eastern province.

Liberalization of the agricultural sector has been a central element in the reform agenda that international financial institutions have been promoting in Africa as part of the structural adjustment programmes that they have designed for the recovery of the continent's economies. This reform agenda has placed much emphasis on the reduction of the state's role and the encouragement of the private sector within a framework of wider macroeconomic measures to create a more market-friendly environment. This report attempts to examine the efficacy of the agricultural sector reforms that have been implemented in Zambia since 1991/92 when the MMD government of Fred Chiluba was elected to office. It pays particular attention to the extent to which the liberalization of agricultural marketing has achieved its objectives. On the basis of empirical material gathered in the field, the report demonstrates the limitations of the reform initiative and identifies a number of constraints that have hampered the private sector in playing its role effectively and ensured that the agricultural marketing system remains relatively undeveloped.