Fighting Disease:  Zambia

Increasing Food Production

Led by Nobel Peace Prize winner Dr. Norman Borlaug until his death in 2009, Sasakawa-Global 2000, a joint venture between the Carter Center's Global 2000 Program and the Sasakawa Africa Association, shared knowledge of improved seed and planting techniques to help farmers improve agricultural production in Zambia. The SG 2000 prescription was simple: Farmers were provided with credit for fertilizers and seeds to grow production test plots. Following successful harvest, they taught their neighbors about the new technologies, creating a ripple effect to build food self-sufficiency in the nation. Since 1986, farmers in Africa have developed more than 600,000 production test plots to test new strains of maize, sorghum, soybeans, wheat, cowpeas, and millet.

Zambia was among the first countries to participate in SG 2000, from 1986 to 1992. Many lessons were learned that improved crop yields in other countries. SG 2000 also helped find local markets for these surpluses because transporting them can be costly and inefficient. SG 2000 projects also shared information on post-harvest technologies, including methods for processing and storing.

Read more about the Carter Center's agriculture work — with the Sasakawa-Africa Association — in
Zambia >