Zambia's Bumper Maize Crop Forecast For 2025

Zambia is expecting a bumper maize harvest in 2025, projecting to produce 3 700 000 metric tonnes (mt) of the country’s staple food. With the opening stock for maize rec orded at 385 000 mt as of 1st May 2025, the projected harvest will increase the total maize supply to well over 4 000 000 mt for the year.

The opening stocks represent carryover from the 2023/2024 agricultural marketing season. National consumption (household and industrial combined) stands at 3 500 000 mt. The projected harvest will therefore result in a surplus of 500 000 mt. This is according to the results of the Crop Forecasting Survey for the 2024/2025 Agricultural season and the food security status for the 2025 marketing season, that were released on 22nd May 2025 by the Zambia Statistics Agency (ZamStats) in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture. The Crop Forecasting Survey is conducted annually to better support planning for the country’s food and nutrition security.

The projected maize harvest is a drastic improvement over the 2023/24 Zambian growing season that recorded the production of a paltry 1.5 million mt due to the severe drought that year.

The statement on the expected harvest has also assured the nation of the government's preparedness for the bumper harvest through the strengthening of storage facilities and expanding market linkages.  

Another notable forecast is for wheat which was projected at 130 000 mt against national consumption of 520 000 mt. Other projections announced were for rice estimated at 40 000 mt against national consumption of 95 000 mt, and cassava flour at 800 000 mt against a national requirement of 1 400 000 mt.

  The survey also revealed that Central Province is projected to have the highest maize production of 680 000 mt, followed by Eastern province with 530 000 mt. Western Province is projected to have the lowest yield at 94 000 mt. Further, the survey has shown that small and medium scale farmers contributed 93% of total expected total maize production, whilst large-scale farmers accounted for only 7 percent.