The name is absent

Table 1.5: Rate of land utilization, commercial farm sector

Rate of underutilized land (%) Land area (%) under

Source: DHV Consultants By, Netherlands, and Wood Consultants and Investments Ltd., Zambia, 1993.

With the exception of several parastatal farms and settlement schemes, the commercial farming
blocks in Southern province were the best utilized (table 1.5). Eastern-province blocks were found to
be generally well utilized due to their relatively high population densities. The commercial blocks
around Lusaka contained a mixture of some of the "best" and "worst" utilized farms in the country.
The entire Big Concession Block in Mumbwa was found to be grossly underutilized due largely to lack
of basic infrastructure. The Kabwe farm block was also found to be grossly underutilized due to "the
saga of the TBZ assisted tenant scheme." Many commercial farms in Copperbelt have recently been
opened, hence the reason for large areas of underutilized land there. The Mbala farm block in
particular was found to be underutilized due to poor soils and numerous absentee landlords.

Of the total of over 400 farms visited in the course of the study, 222 had underutilized land
totalling 364,583 hectares. The largest proportion was located in the Copperbelt, but large areas of
underutilization were also found around Lusaka, the Big Concession, Kabwe, and Chisamba. Of the
total number of assessed farms (visited and unvisited), 687,886 hectares were determined to be
underutilized. Assuming that 60 percent of this area is good arable land, an heroic assumption given
the dearth of data on land use quality, the study concludes that a total of roughly 400,000 hectares
could be brought into cultivation without opening new lands.

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