Zambia–Land Tenure and Property Rights Profile

The country's vast low-income economy is dominated by subsistence agriculture and mining, with small-scale farming being the primary source of income in rural areas. Approximately 72 percent of the workforce is employed in agriculture, yet it only accounts for less than 10 percent of the country's GDP. The least productive land in Zambia is held under customary tenure by small farmers, while the most productive land is leased for commercial farms, mining operations, and urban and tourism developments. Zambia's high rate of deforestation, estimated at 250,000 to 300,000 hectares per year, is a major concern, with the country ranked as having one of the highest rates of deforestation in the world. Deforestation and degradation are primarily driven by encroachment from agriculture, tree harvesting for fuel wood and sale, and uncontrolled burning. The charcoal trade, which requires limited investment and training, is a significant contributor to deforestation, with many smallholder farmers engaging in this activity to generate quick income. The 1995 Lands Act allows for the conversion of customary tenure to state leasehold tenure with private leasehold interest. However, this has led to the erosion of local rights to common-pool resources and communal land, resulting in the loss of access to water sources, grazing land, and forest products for local communities. The new Constitution, finalized in 2016, provides for the principles of land policy, environmental and natural resources management, and establishes a Land Commission to administer, manage, and alienate land on behalf of the President. Key issues and intervention constraints in Zambia's land tenure and property rights system include the lack of documented, secure land rights for smallholder farmers, the need for increased transparency and access to information between customary authorities and the state, particularly in peri-urban areas, and the requirement for state and customary land rights documentation and approaches to streamline administration and revenue collection. Donors can help Zambia develop a more dynamic, productive, and sustainable economy by providing assistance in these areas, including promoting women's access to and control over land, supporting transparency and access to information, and ensuring land- and resource-based investments are also sustainable investments. Zambia's population growth and migration into urban areas have accelerated rapidly in the last decade, with two of the country's largest cities, Lusaka and Kitwe, expected to double in size over the next 20 years. However, the provision of public services and infrastructure is lagging behind urban growth, with challenges related to peri-urban development and planning. The country's long-term development planning strategy, Vision 2030, identifies agriculture, energy, mining, and forestry as key economic sectors, with a sharp rise in foreign and domestic investments in these sectors over the past decade.