ABSTRACT
The World Bank and International Food Policy Research Institute, among many other institutions, have referred to Zambia as having great potential for yield increase through increases in irrigation-based agriculture. Central to each case has been the provision of irrigation networks to harness Zambia’s water resources. For Zambia, investment in agriculture has long been promoted not only as a means to address ongoing food security issues and rural poverty, but also as a means to diversify the national economy away from dependence on the mining sector. The chapter explores the ways in which water has become a central focus in mobilising the agriculture potential in sub-Saharan Africa and Zambia. Zambia remains, at the moment and with great caveats, a viable prospect for the acquisition of land and water for agriculture, with a large reserve of green and blue water and low population density.
