Fueling the Brewery, Feeding the Poor: Cassava Commercialization and Food Insecurity in Rural Zambia
Submission Type
Event
Faculty Advisor
William Munro
Expected Graduation Date
2019
Location
Room E105, Center for Natural Sciences, Illinois Wesleyan University
Start Date
4-13-2019 10:00 AM
End Date
4-13-2019 11:00 AM
Disciplines
Education
Abstract
Since the global food crisis of 2008, increased awareness of global hunger has motivated a wave of efforts to reduce hunger in developing countries. Zambia, where over 48 percent of children under the age of five are stunted, is an especially urgent case. Hunger in Zambia is a complex issue compounded by the effects of poverty and climate change. Hunger and poverty disproportionately affect rural farming communities, where more than 80 percent of people live below the poverty line. One increasingly popular model for reducing rural poverty and food insecurity is to promote smallholder participation in agricultural value chains, and to support agro-processing. In 2016 Zambian Breweries launched a project to build a commercial cassava value chain in the Luapula region in order to feed its brewing plant in Ndola, Zambia’s third largest city. This research examines the implementation of that project in order to evaluate its likely effect on rural food insecurity in Luapula Province.
Fueling the Brewery, Feeding the Poor: Cassava Commercialization and Food Insecurity in Rural Zambia
Room E105, Center for Natural Sciences, Illinois Wesleyan University
Since the global food crisis of 2008, increased awareness of global hunger has motivated a wave of efforts to reduce hunger in developing countries. Zambia, where over 48 percent of children under the age of five are stunted, is an especially urgent case. Hunger in Zambia is a complex issue compounded by the effects of poverty and climate change. Hunger and poverty disproportionately affect rural farming communities, where more than 80 percent of people live below the poverty line. One increasingly popular model for reducing rural poverty and food insecurity is to promote smallholder participation in agricultural value chains, and to support agro-processing. In 2016 Zambian Breweries launched a project to build a commercial cassava value chain in the Luapula region in order to feed its brewing plant in Ndola, Zambia’s third largest city. This research examines the implementation of that project in order to evaluate its likely effect on rural food insecurity in Luapula Province.