ABSTRACT
Zambia is one of the most urbanized countries in sub-Saharan Africa with 31.5 per cent of the population living in the largest cities. In Zambia, agriculture accounted for some 21 per cent of real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2009, and the sector still absorbs over two-thirds of its labour force. Agriculture therefore remains as one of the main priorities for poverty alleviation. Development Community (SADC) region are in Zambia which, if profitably utilized, could make agriculture a mainstay of the economy. This contribution aims first to describe what has been done or not in regard to rural areas since independence by the former authoritarian regime and subsequent elected governments. Secondly, how parties have managed the land/agriculture issue in order to get access to or keep power after 1991; and finally to evaluate how government measures have impacted on poverty, in particular rural poverty. Apparently everything indicates a lack of a strategic approach to rural lands and agriculture in general.
