ABSTRACT
This chapter provides one example of the development by looking at how innovation in wetland farming has been adopted and has allowed entrepreneurial skills to be applied in the Mpika District of northern Zambia. Local animateurs or serial entrepreneurs, who can stimulate local action groups, are important sources of stimulus to change and innovation. Reviewing the range of household circumstances and diverse reasons reported for engaging in wetland farming, three common strategies can be identified: enhanced survival, increased consumption and livelihood development/diversification. In villages where wetland cultivation has taken off, it is reported that there has been a 75% to 100% fall in this type of seasonal migration for work, as young men are increasingly making money from wetland farming. The experience of wetland farmers in Mpika provides an informative case study of the range of entrepreneurial activities that can be generated by a specific innovation in one part of the rural livelihood system.
