Overview
This project aimed to identify and characterise the nature and scale of food and nutrition loss in urban agrifood chains in Lusaka City and define its drivers and implications.
Zambia is among the fastest urbanising countries, with Lusaka projected to become a major urban centre in Southern Africa.
This scenario implies that there will inevitably be a huge demand for food in cities and towns. This will be driven by a rise in urban population, diversified consumption patterns and demand is likely to put pressure on the already overstretched urban food supply chains.
Food and nutrition insecurity in Zambian urban centres has yielded major health effects including stunting and permanently reduced cognitive function for small children, promoted child labour, and contributed to increased prevalence of nutrition-related diseases.
It is estimated that large open-air urban markets (informal) are clear determinants for food accessibility in Lusaka. However, the data available fails to provide detailed actor mapping and relations to outline what needs to be done and by whom to reduce the losses at all major post-harvest food flow stages to the markets in Lusaka.
This substantiates the need to conduct the proposed study as it will fill in the gaps in policy, practice, innovation, and research, and consequently contribute to the holistic and improved management of food chains for both urban and semi-rural populations of Lusaka.
This project is part of the Food Loss Research Program—a partnership between ACIAR and Canada’s International Research Development Centre. The program works with partners in developing countries to address food loss through innovative, locally driven solutions.