Forests cover 66% of the land area of Zambia and contribute significantly to local livelihoods and the national economy. Forest resources are, however, severely depleted and the rate of deforestation is 250,000–300,000 ha per year, which is among the highest in the whole world. Private forestry is a new concept as forest management has traditionally been vested with the Government. The customary land tenure system is governed by local Chiefs poses challenges to growing trees on farms. The overall aim of the project is to contribute to reducing the high rate of deforestation and to promote planting of trees on farms as a source of income and means of poverty reduction. In the first pilot year, the project aims at establishing a national body, National Farm Forestry Commodity Committee within the umbrella of ZNFU – the national farmers’ union to provide a platform for the forestry value chain actors. The project will promote the tree growing on farms for diverse purposes. In order to generate hands on experience in farm forestry and best practices, the project will introduce the concept in 2-3 districts. The number of direct beneficiaries is estimated at 150 male and female farmers. Synergies will be sought with other on-going activities, particularly in training material and seedling production. ZNFU will introduce and promote the farm forestry concept in Zambia and utilise its own regional and district structures to mobilise and educate farmers.

Zambian National Farmers’ Union (ZNFU) is one of the most prominent farmers' organizations in Africa and a key player in the country’s agriculture sector. It brings together farmers as well as processors, traders and input suppliers. ZNFU activities include lobbying and advocacy, provision of member services and information dissemination and communication to members. At the present, 68 district level Farmers’ Associations (DFA) and 19 specialised associations. ZNFU estimates to have 300,000 smallholder members. Despite the good progress ZNFU has made, some areas require attention including leadership issues at all organisational levels and awareness/capacity at the grass-roots level to develop positions and engage in lobby and advocacy. Also only limited attention has been paid to cross-cutting issues. Financial sustainability of the organisation is a concern, particularly at the DFA level. The aim of the project is to target these challenges by strengthening ZNFU’s organisation both at the national level and in one pilot district. By supporting a selected district, the project will generate information about the requirements and expectations for the ZNFU district level work and help to develop appropriate working models. The project is organised under three intertwined result areas, namely a) improved capacities among ZNFU leaders and management to develop, lead and manage the organisation, b) strengthened DFA lobbying and member services in the pilot district, and c) enhanced gender mainstreaming. The partnership project will be carried out by ZNFU and the Finnish Farmers’ Union MTK. ZNFU will be responsible for the implementation, while MTK will provide advice and support the project planning, implementation and reporting.

Programme Description The project is part of the wider SCC regional programme for Sustainable agriculture, food security and local business development in Southern Africa. The objectives of which are: · To support women and men to increase their incomes, improve their livelihoods, defend their rights and organise themselves. · To strengthen the democratic and economic development of farmers organisations. · To contribute to the development of democratic and just societies. Project Description Strengthening of the partner organisation and capacity building Strengthening of District Farmer Associations (DFAs) and Information Centres (ICs) in the input supply and market chain as well as lobby and advocacy will further enhance the recognition of the Union as an influential actor in the agriculture sector. Supporting leadership skills' development through training and mentorship will enhance the capacity of DFA to exert themselves more effectively in this role. Facilitating member mobilisation and retention has the potential to contribute to enhanced legitimacy and stronger basis for representation. It also has potential to contribute to income generation through increased member subscriptions. Budget 3MSEK (2009)

Programme Description The SDMP project is part of the wider SCC regional programme for Sustainable agriculture, food security and local business development in Southern Africa. The objectives of which are: · To support women and men to increase their incomes, improve their livelihoods, defend their rights and organise themselves. · To strengthen the democratic and economic development of farmers organisations. · To contribute to the development of democratic and just societies. Project Description Strengthening of the partner organisation and capacity building SDMP will develop capacity in the District Management Teams, which are inter-sectoral teams with representation from Zimbabwe Farmers' Union (ZFU), Agricultural Research and Extension Service (AREX), local NGO’s, traditional leadership, and other relevant institutions, to implement the project. The strength with the inter-sectoral team approach is that the resource base represented by the different organisations can be utilised in the project implementation. Budget 1,2 MSEK (2009)

Background and context of the present application is, that for the first time in IFAP’s history, a Farmer leader from a developing country was elected President of the Federation at last World Farmers’ Congress which was held this year in Warsaw, Poland. Besides his work of defending farmers interest worldwide and promoting a farmer centered model of development, Mr. Ajay Vashee from Zambia National Farmers’ Union (ZNFU) in Zambia, is also the President of a regional farmers’ organization called the Southern African Confederation of Agricultural Unions (SACAU) and now the newly elected President of IFAP. As an African leader, no doubt Mr. Vashee will further promote and inspire others to become IFAP members particularly from developing countries invariably making IFAP a truly world farmers’ body. He will also work for persuading donor agencies to support the federation and its members, especially through the Farmer Fighting Poverty (FFP) program managed by Agricord. However, a sure limitation for a developing country farmer leader to become an IFAP president relates with the costs involved in the President’s work. It is an established rule in IFAP that the President’s costs for his presidency (e.g. travel costs, international telecom) are covered by his mother organization, in this case, the ZNFU. The case is that this is the first time in which a developing country organization needs to address this issue. And the fact is that this is not possible to be covered by a normal developing country organization and particularly not by the Zambia National Farmers’ Union. The objective of the present proposal is to make it possible for the Zambia National Farmers’ Union to support Mr. Ajay Vashee as the first African President of IFAP, to exude and discharge high level competencies which will lead to him performing an outstanding presidency, and inevitably beneficial to IFAP in general, its developing countries members and the FFP program in particular.

The ZNFU is the National Farmers Organisation in Zambia. The Zambia National Farmers Union is already cooperating with the Swedish Cooperative Centre (SCC). This cooperation started in 1997. Besides the Royal Netherlands Embassy Zambia has supported the ZNFU through the ZNFU Support Program (ZSP) since 2004. The ZNFU has been strengthened by this program, both at national level and at local levels. ZNFU would like to explore the possibilities for a SMS Market Information System for whole South and East Africa. Therefore they would undertake a feasibility study for 4 African countries in East and South Africa (Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa and Tanzania) The expected outcome of this study: - Situation analysis for four countries with information about the Agricultural Market Structure, The Farmer Representative Organizations, Current Information Services, Information Service Providers, Training Providers and Governement Interventions. - To know for all 4 countries the ability to replicate the Zambian SMS Market Information Model. - A program proposal, to establish a regional SMS/website-based Information Services, will be developped for each country which has the possibity to replicate the Zambian model.

Marketing Facilitation Project (MFP) 1. Background The cooperation between Zambia National Farmers Union (ZNFU) and Swedish Cooperative Centre (SCC)started in 1997. Initially this cooperation was through the Outreach Services Project and Crop Diversification Project. By end of 2001, a Local Level Farmers Business Development Project (LLFBDP) was developed and successfully implemented in Choma and Monze districts during 2002 and 2003. With additional financial support from AgriCord supplementing the SCC funding, the project was expanded to Petauke and Katete districts in Eastern province for the period 2004 and 2005. In Petauke and Katete districts the focus of the project has been to develop the capacity of the ZNFU District Farmers Associations (DFA´s) to: - facilitate marketing and trade activities, - facilitate contract farming and out grower arrangements, - promote local level farmers business initiatives, - facilitate information flow and skills development DFA's offices have been established in the two districts and Project Facilitators and Administrative Assistants has been employed to oversee the operation. About 20 Information/ Bulk marketing Centres have been established at local level with contact farmers being appointed to facilitate the activities at the IC level. Despite the short time the project has been operating, assessments show improved access among members to inputs and markets, enhanced membership skills in production, entrepreneurship and agribusiness, and increased participation by farmers/ members in DFA and IC activities. In an assessment which was carried out by SCC in June 2005 it was recommended that the LLFBDP should be extended for another three years. Based on the recommendations in the assessment, a project for the period 2006 ? 2008 with the new name of "Market Facilitation Project" (MFP) has been developed by ZNFU in liaison with SCC. 2. Target group At household level the small-scale farmer members of Petauke, Katete, Monze, Choma DFAs will continue to be the target group. At organizational level the DFA's and the Information and Bulk marketing Centres will be the target. 3. Project Objective The project objective is: "To enable members of the DFA to increase their net incomes from agriculture production" 4. Budget The total project budget for the period 2006 - 2008 is Euro 1,446,293 of which SCC will finance Euro 1,170,001, AgriCord 178,610 and ZNFU 97,682. AgriCord funds will be used for financing part of activities in Petauke and Katete districts.

Background ZNFU and SCC have been cooperating since 1997. Initially this cooperation was through the Outreach Services Project and Crop Diversification Development Project. By end of 2001, a Local Level Farmers Business Development Project (LLFBDP) was developed. The project was successfully implemented in Monze and Choma districts in the Southern province during 2002 and 2003. The project has mainly been focused on development of local Information Centres in which marketing information and other agricultural information has been disseminated to the farmers. The IC's has also functioned as distribution centres of training materials for farmers, especially study circle materials produced by ZNFU. The project has also focused on a change process among farmers towards business thinking and development of cooperative agro businesses. By end of 2003, it was agreed between SCC and ZNFU to continue the project in Monze and Choma and to expand the project to two more districts, namely Petauke and Katete districts in the Eastern Province. It was also agreed that the extended project, including the expansion of the project, would be more focused on activities that would have a significant impact on the income generation of the farmers, such as facilitation of farmers marketing of produce and buying of inputs, contract farming and facilitation of contract arrangement, and technical training of farmers in farm management and production techniques. Problems to be addressed by the project A LFA/Planning exercise in the two new districts has been carried out and the key-problems identified by the farmers' were: ·Poor marketing and trade support structures for District Farmers Association (DFA's) and Commodity Associations (CA's). ·Inadequate skills in farm management and lobbying techniques. ·Uncoordinated input supply systems compounded by poor infrastructure. ·Impaired access to finance. Target group The ultimate target group for the project is the small-scale farmers in Petauke and Katete districts that are involved in, or have potential in taking up, commercial agricultural production. However, the overall strategy is to develop capacity in the District Farmers Associations (DFA's), Commodity Associations (CA's) and local Information Centres (IC's) to provide services that enables the farmers/members to increase their income from agriculture production, hence those Farmers Organisations (FO's) will be the direct target group for the interventions in the project. Commercial production in this context is defined as farmers producing a surplus with purpose to sell on the market and generate an income. CA's are specialised FO´s that are promoting production and marketing of a specific commodity e.g. cotton, paprika, tobacco, red meat, poultry, etc. A DFA is the umbrella organisation at district level for CA´s and individual farmers. Project objective The project objectives is to contribute to increased household incomes through the setting up of a coordinated and well-positioned workable marketing and trade facilitation system. Project management The Zambia National Farmers' Union (ZNFU) will coordinate the implementation of the project. At ZNFU Board level, the project will be integrated into the existing member service task force committee (MSTC). The MSTC consists of two board members, the Executive Director and the Project Coordinator. At the secretariat level, there will be a Project Management Team consisting of a Project Coordinator and an Economist supplemented by an Accountant. The Project Coordinator reports to ZFU's Executive Director and Member Services Task Force Committee (MMSTC). The Executive Director will be responsible for submitting reports to SCC. At the District level, the sub project management will be under a Agribusiness Manager who will professionally be reporting to the Project Coordinator but operationally be supervised by the DFA Executive committee. There will also be an Administrator employed in each district who will be responsible for office and project administration. In addition a Business Development Advisor (BDA) will be assigned to the project. The BDA will work hand in hand with the Agribusiness Mangers and provide technical advise to the DFA members. Finance The total project cost for LLFBDP in Petauke and Katete districts, for a period of two years, is Euro 520,225.00. SCC has allocated Euro 286,183.00 to the project, which gives a balance of Euro 234,042.00 to be financed by AgriCord. Costs for the Project Management Team at the ZNFU Headoffice is not included in this budget and will be financed jointly by SCC and ZNFU. The Business Development Advisor will also be financed outside this project by German Development Services.