Description

In Zambia’s Eastern Province (EP), the majority of the 1.8 million people live in rural areas with livelihoods dependent on natural resources. Significant poverty characterizes the communities and agriculture, forestry and wildlife resources are not well managed. There is major ongoing deforestation in the EP – large hectares of forest are cleared regularly for food, firewood and charcoal production. Contributory factors include inadequate land use planning, poor agricultural and natural resources management practices, untapped alternative livelihood options, and poor market access for farmers. Addressing these challenges under changing climatic conditions is the highest priority of the provincial administration.

To address, these problems, the Zambia Integrated Forest Landscape Project (ZIFLP) was developed to improve the livelihoods of the local communities and sustainably manage agriculture, forestry, and wildlife resources in the EP. The project is designed with strong community ownership as its focus.

ICRAF contributes to this project through the following activities:
1. Establish baseline knowledge of soil productivity and land degradation through collection of baseline bio-physical field data in Eastern Province using the ICRAF LDSF tool.
2. Increase soil and crop productivity at camp level through the development of a camp specific interactive dashboard
3. Build capacity of Ministry of Agriculture staff in the use of the interactive dashboard for resilient diagnostic and decision making in soil fertility recommendations
4. Establish and conduct a monitoring programme for land health and degradation using an interactive dashboard.