About Us

In Zambia Agriculture plays a key role of supporting industries by the production of the required raw materials , producing exportable agricultural goods, generating employment particularly in rural areas, as well as providing food stuffs essential for the sustenance of acceptable nutrition standards and levels.

• To achieve the Government’s role, the ministry has the following objectives:-
• To effectively plan, monitor and evaluate agricultural sector programmes;
• To promote agricultural production by provinding policy guidelines to action programmes
• To facilitate the policies that would ensure national and regional food security through dependable annual production of adequate suppliesf basic food stuffs at competetive prices;
• To ensure that the existing agricultural resource base is well maintained and improved upon
• To ensure that policies are formulated and implemented to facilitate the generation of income and employment to maximum feasible levels in all regions through full utilisation of scarce resources realization of domestic and export potential;
• To provide policy and institutional framework that would contribute to sustainable industrial development; and
• To ensure the contribution of the agricultural sector to the national balance of payments expands by among other things, by providing incentives that would expand agricultural export in line with international comparative advantage.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAL) comprises the following Departments. The Department are headed by a Director who reports to the Permanent Secretary.

• Department of Agriculture;
• Zambia Agriculture Research Institute;
• Seed Control and Certification Institute
• Department of Co-operatives;
• Department of Agri-business and Marketing;
• Department of Poilicy and Planning;
• Department of Human Resources and Administration;
• Department of Livestock Development;
• Department of Veterinary Services
• Fisheries Department

Mandate of the Ministry of Agriculture & Livestock

The Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock is responsible for the following portfolio functions:

• Agriculture and co-operatives policy
• Agriculture economics and market development.
• Co-operatives development
• Field Services
• Food Security
• Agricultural Research and specialist services
• Rural Finance
• Agricultural market policy
• Irrigation Development
• Agricultural extension (crops, livestock and fisheries)
• Seeds, standards and grades
• Veterinary and Tsetse control services
• Livestock development
• Veterinary and Fisheries training