IWMI Backs Zambian Farmers with New Agribusiness Decision Tools

The International Water Management Institute (IWMI) published a report on 9 October 2026 describing how new agribusiness tools are helping extension officers support Zambian farmers. The tools aim to make farm enterprise decisions more profitable, resilient and evidence-based. The piece was written by IWMI’s Agrey Wapamesa, Winnie Kasoma-Pele and André van Rooyen.

A simple question many farmers are not asked

The central question is whether a farming enterprise is actually making money. For decades, agricultural success in Zambia has largely been measured in hectares planted and bags harvested. Those indicators matter, but they do not show whether a household earns enough to pay for education, improve nutrition, withstand climate shocks or escape poverty.

Across rural Zambia, the crops farmers choose are often shaped by legacy, with many continuing to grow what previous generations grew. Many invest heavily in production without fully understanding their return. With rising input costs, climate variability and changing markets, the economics of farming has become critical. A good harvest can fill more bags, but if the cost of producing it is almost as high as the earnings, higher yields alone will not produce worthwhile profits.

Background: IWMI and the WASA Agribusiness Catalyst

IWMI is a CGIAR research center headquartered in Colombo, Sri Lanka. It has offices in 17 countries and scientists working in more than 55 countries, and it works with governments, civil society and the private sector on water problems in developing countries.

In Zambia, IWMI is working with the government to strengthen farmers’ ability to make informed agribusiness decisions. Development partners include the Conservation Farming Unit (CFU), Total Land Care (TLC) and Solidaridad. IWMI’s Water and Soil Accelerator (WASA) project, through its Agribusiness Catalyst, promotes a more market-oriented approach to agriculture. The goal is to equip extension services and farming communities with practical tools to evaluate profitability, identify market opportunities and build resilient agricultural businesses.

Training the advisers who reach farmers

IWMI is building the capacity of agricultural extension officers, who link agricultural knowledge to farming communities. Through field visits, demonstration plots, farmer field schools and advisory services, these officers influence household farming decisions.

One example is a recent “Training of Trainers” program for government extension officers and field staff from CFU, TLC and Solidaridad in Zambia’s Southern, Central and Eastern Provinces. Participants learned tools such as enterprise selection and gross margin analysis, and were challenged to look beyond yields to see which enterprises create the most value under local conditions.

Two practical tools

Enterprise selection framework. Farmers compare enterprises using objective criteria: market demand, production costs, labor requirements, soil suitability, drought tolerance, yield potential and expected profitability. The approach moves the conversation from “What can I grow?” to “Which enterprise is most likely to improve my income and resilience?”

Gross margin analysis. This tool measures financial performance by comparing the revenue an enterprise generates with the variable costs of producing it, such as fertilizer, labor, transport and harvesting.

What the exercises revealed

Extension officers applied the tools to enterprises commonly grown in their districts. In several cases, maize, one of Zambia’s most widely cultivated crops, recorded relatively low gross margins once production costs were deducted. Soybean, groundnuts and sweet potatoes often generated stronger returns because of lower production costs and favorable market opportunities.

The authors stress that the findings do not mean farmers should abandon maize. Maize remains essential for household food security in many farming systems. Profitability analysis can help farmers find the best mix of enterprises for their circumstances.

Why profitability matters

Profit lets a household turn production into better livelihoods. It can pay for better seed, irrigation or equipment, school fees, improved nutrition and a response to climate shocks, and it can fund expansion of an enterprise that performs well. In this sense, profitability is part of a household’s capacity to invest, adapt and become more resilient.

The approach also changes the extension officer’s role. Instead of telling farmers what to grow, officers can guide a process in which farmers compare alternatives, understand trade-offs and make their own evidence-based decisions. Farmers can then ask how much they spent, how much they earned and which enterprise to expand next season.

Conclusion

The Zambia initiative shows that water and agriculture research now includes farm economics. The tools are deliberately simple, but they could change how advice is given to smallholders. Extension officers become facilitators of financial decisions, and farmers judge crops by net profit rather than harvest size alone. Wider adoption will depend on how well extension systems build these tools into daily advice, and on whether farmers can act on the results with access to markets and inputs. As the authors put it, increasing production remains important, but sustainable smallholder agriculture also requires farmers to understand their net profits.