Unlocking Zambia's Agricultural Potential through Smart Investments in Agro-Processing

Zambia's grain and milling sector may have grown in importance, attracting investments from both local and foreign investors, and contributing significantly to the country's economic growth, but the country has other opportunities to grow its mantle as an agriculture powerhouse in the region. Agricultural value addition as a government strategy for economic growth extends beyond maize farms and includes other important Zambian produce including cashew nut, mangoes and tomatoes, among others.

Cashew nut was first introduced in Zambia in the 1940 but decades of mismanagement of the sector left many farmers abandoning the crop for other lucrative alternatives. By 2015, production had plummeted to 50 tonnes per annum. This decline left the country's 2 cashew processing companies namely Western Cashew Industries Limited and Barotse Cashew Company Limited - which have total estimated capacity to process 780 tonnes per year - to order raw cashew nuts from Tanzania for processing in order to sustain their businesses.

The neglect of cashew nut was unfortunate because unlike maize which trades at about US$300 per tonne, cashew nut is a high value product selling at an average farm gate price of US$500 per tonne with the price of the finished processed product going as high as US$11,200, according to data from Statista. Given its high value, recent Zambian regimes have prioritized cashew production as part of economic diversification and as a poverty reduction strategy in Western Province.

TASK:You have just been appointed Special Advisor to the President for National Projects and you are requested to present the following to the Cabinet Ministers:

1. A well-written brief illustration of the importance of project management on livelihood projects.
2. Develop a Project life cycle for a cashew nut projects and explain what is involved at each stage.
3. Illustrate what is Project Analysis and Evaluation in relation to the above stated project.