Smallholder farmers' and other agricultural sector stakeholders' priorities for government spending: Evidence from Zambia

Abstract

Key Findings -Results from an open-ended question on nationally-representative surveys in 2015 and 2019 indicate that smallholder farmers’ top priorities for additional government spending in general (not limited to the agricultural sector) are health care, roads and bridges, education, water and sanitation, and the Farmer Input Support Programme (FISP). -Results from a smaller survey in 13 districts in 2017 using a method (“best-worst scaling” (BWS)) that requires respondents to consider tradeoffs between different options and that focused on 10 specific agricultural sector policy options indicate that smallholder farmers would most like to see additional government spending be devoted to FISP or the Food Reserve Agency (FRA). -In contrast, results from a similar BWS survey in 2019 with other agricultural sector stakeholders (representing research organizations, NGOs, government, private sector groups, and donors) indicate that these stakeholders view FRA and FISP as the lowest priorities for additional government spending. Instead, these stakeholders favor increased expenditures on public goods such as extension, rural infrastructure, and crop research and development, which have been shown to have high returns to agricultural growth and poverty reduction.