Zambia is among the countries with the highest levels of under-nutrition in the world (see
IFPRI 2014), and these levels have remained high—around 40%—even when the country
has achieved significant growth in agricultural production. About 60% of Zambia’s
population lives in the rural areas where poverty levels are estimated to be as high as 75%.
This aspect alone makes most rural households highly dependent on agriculture, the natural
forests, and woodlands for their livelihoods including food provision and income generation.
Focusing on Eastern Province that has one of the highest child stunting levels in the country,
this study explores the contribution of forest products to rural households and child nutrition.
Specifically, the study reviews the national and regional forest conservation policies for
sustainable use of food products; assesses the availability, accessibility, and utilization of
food and non-food forest products in the province; and examines the nutritional and
medicinal properties of forest foods available in the province based on scientific evidence and
as known by the local communities.
The study focuses on five districts in Eastern Province namely Nyimba, Petauke, Katete,
Chipata, and Lundazi. These districts form the Zone of Influence of the Feed the Future
initiative of the United States Government. This initiative seeks to address global food
insecurity by focusing on growth of the agricultural sector and improvement in nutritional
status in developing countries. Therefore, various agricultural and forest interventions have
been implemented and reliable nutrition-related data is available. For this study, two areas in
each district were studied, one in a densely forested zone and another in an open forest zone.
Focus group discussions with women and men from the local communities were conducted to
collect information about diversity, availability, seasonality, and use of the various forest
products in the areas. The discussions also included forest management strategies and their
implementation to assess sustainable use of forest products. In addition, information from
observations that were made during visits to the villages studied was also useful for analyzing
the impact of forest resources on rural household nutrition.
Zambia has various policies aimed at guiding the utilization of the forests. For example, the
Revised National Forest Policy of 2014 strongly emphasizes the participation of local
communities, traditional institutions, the private sector, and other stakeholders at all stages of
decision-making regarding forest management, utilization, and monitoring. However, forest
cover and biodiversity have continued to be lost at alarming rates rendering existing forest
management strategies ineffective.
Findings show that forests are an important source of food and income that contribute to
livelihoods and dietary diversity for rural households. Forest foods are consumed on a day to
day basis either in the form of snacks or as part of the meal, by all age groups and both the
male and the female household members.
However, malnutrition in the province has remained high and this study identified several
factors limiting availability, accessibility, and utilization of the forest resources. First, forests
in the areas do not provide all the food types needed for proper nutrition. Only three out of
the six food groups are provided by the forest in sufficient quantities to contribute
significantly to child nutrition. These are non-starchy fruits, non-starchy vegetables, and bush
meat. Starchy foods such as grains and tubers, dairy, legumes, and nuts are not provided by
the forest areas studied. Eggs of wild birds are available but not in sufficient amounts.