Customary land is the foundation of smallholder agriculture in Zambia. In recent decades
much of this land has under gone significant change as the result of population pressures,
land alienation, infrastructure investments, and climate change. Despite these changes,
knowledge about both the quantity of customary land and the quality of this land for
agricultural commercialization purposes is scant. Using available spatial data on Zambian
land, coupled with geographically explicit rural household survey data, this paper seeks fill
the persistent knowledge gaps around Zambia’s customary land resources. More specifically,
the paper has three primary objectives:
1) To update the facts on the magnitude and location of land under customary tenure in
Zambia;
2) To identify and describe factors which may constrain smallholder access and/or
utilization of land resources within remaining customary areas;
3) To document recent evidence for institutional dynamism within customary areas,
particularly incipient patterns of land commodification and associated institutional
changes.