Recent Developments in Zambia

The paper gives basic information on the political status, economy and origins of GDP for Zambia. The colonial era saw the development of mining and the primary sector into highly efficient units of production, whilst the subsistence agricultural sector was left largely underdeveloped. Opposition grew and there was an attempted coup as economic difficulties increased. The more the problems of the economic crisis facing Zambia became entrenched, the more a consensus of discontent developed among the Zambian population. According to the paper, the key to Zambia’s economic regeneration lies in a rural development programme centred on subsistence peasant agricultural techniques, but neither UNIP nor the development managers seem to be able to come to grips with the wide range of problems besetting this sector.