On the second day of her visit to Zambia, Administrator Power visited Good Nature Agro Company (GNA), one of Zambia’s largest legume seed suppliers and exporters. The Administrator toured GNA’s seed warehouse and spoke with staff and food security experts about how private-sector partnerships support Zambia’s agriculture sector and help Zambia increase their regional exports to provide food for other African nations as the world faces a severe food security crisis.
She highlighted President Biden’s recent announcement that the United States is expanding Feed the Future, the U.S. government’s global food security initiative, with Zambia as one of eight new target countries, and shared that USAID will invest $9 million in Zambia to expand the efficient delivery of agricultural inputs to the most vulnerable farmers, including women farmers, stimulate investment in new sources of fertilizer, and engage the private sector to bring down the high cost of fertilizer. The Administrator also launched a new $30 million trade and investment program in Zambia called TradeBoost. The program is part of USAID’s continent-wide Africa Trade and Investment program, part of the U.S. Government’s Prosper Africa initiative. TradeBoost will amplify market intelligence, increase investment in Zambian businesses, and direct targeted trade facilitation assistance to Zambian businesses to reach regional and international markets. She also announced a planned five-year, $14 million initiative designed to spur economic development in Zambia.
Administrator Power then met with the Minister of Finance and National Planning and the Minister of Agriculture. They spoke about tackling macroeconomic challenges and creating an enabling environment that would increase international investment in Zambia. They discussed the ongoing food crisis facing many countries in Africa and ways the United States and USAID can assist Zambia in increasingly agricultural outputs and increasing their exports of essential foods to the continent. The Administrator expressed USAID’s readiness to help Zambia meet its food needs by working together to increase the amount of arable land used by Zambian farmers and urged them to continue work to reform the Farmer Input Subsidy Program,
Later in the day, Administrator Power met with President Hakainde Hichilema at the State House. The two discussed working together on commitments to strengthen democracy, anti-corruption efforts, and rising food insecurity, as well as the need to continue swift work to enact important reforms laid out by the New Dawn Administration. Administrator Power highlighted USAID plans to provide additional assistance to democratization efforts in Zambia and reiterated the U.S government’s commitment to helping the government deliver tangible benefits for the people of Zambia.
In the evening, the Administrator joined youth leaders gathered at the University of Zambia for a discussion on young people’s role in civic activism. The young leaders shared how they are championing citizen-led accountability and engagement on issues they are passionate about from climate change to gender equity.