233
hectares). Once the data are listed at the camp level, the agricultural officer forwards them to the ward
supervisor.' The ward supervisor reviews the data and aggregates them to the ward level before
sending them to the district agricultural officer (DAO).' Special crop-forecasting meetings are held
at the district and provincial levels to review the data and to agree upon the forecasts. The data are
then forwarded to the central office in Lusaka for final tabulation and review. The annual crop
forecasts are published by the Early Warning Unit of the MAFF in May of each year. As an example,
table 8.3 lists the MAFF time series data published for maize (Zambia/MAFF 1993).
Table 8.3: Maize time series data published by the MAFF
Maize
MAFF estimates -- All farms
MAIZE-MF.WB1
Maize Produced and Sold
All farms — MAFF estimates
|
Year |
Area |
Production |
Yield |
Sold |
Percent |
Value |
Average |
|
80/81 |
622,550 |
16,500,180 |
27 |
7,832,181 |
47% | ||
|
81/82 |
456,000 |
8,162,000 |
18 |
5,671,613 |
69% |
103,791,000 |
18.30 |
|
82/83 |
546,700 |
10,392,000 |
19 |
5,901,824 |
57% |
144,595,000 |
24.50 |
|
83/84 |
506,500 |
9,686,000 |
19 |
6,347,637 |
66% |
179,765,000 |
28.32 |
|
84/85 |
581,846 |
12,470,570 |
21 |
7,069,637 |
57% |
200,212,000 |
28.32 |
|
85/86 |
588,490 |
13,673,265 |
23 |
10,607,414 |
78% |
583,408,000 |
55.00 |
|
86/87 |
609,529 |
11,816,096 |
19 |
7,296,044 |
62% |
569,091,000 |
78.00 |
|
87/88 |
723,087 |
21,591,321 |
30 |
14,989,980 |
69% |
1,199,198,000 |
80.00 |
|
88/89 |
1,020,574 |
20,499,758 |
20 |
13,551,314 |
66% |
1,463,542,000 |
108.00 |
|
89/90 |
763,277 |
12,140,784 |
16 |
6,678,711 |
55% |
1,896,754,000 |
284.00 |
2 This organizational structure was first developed during the colonial period for purposes of providing extension services
to small-scale farmers. The largest local structure was the "block" and within each block several "camps" were identified.
Communications traveled from the district agricultural officer through the block supervisor to each of the relevant camps.
After independence, the "blocks" became "wards" (with the exception of the Southern province), and the purpose of the
organizational structure became primarily political.
3 The Department of Agriculture's "Crop Forecasting Questionnaire" is used to record individual farm data at the camp
level. The "Crop Forecasting Summary Sheet" is used to aggregate camp-level data before it is sent to the DAO.