Overview background and Brief Description

Agriculture contributes significantly to social and economic development of the country. National statistics show that majority of the population is reliant on agriculture with a significant percent of the country’s labour force being employed in the sector. However, agricultural production in Zambia is vulnerable to seasonal rainfall variability. Drought occurrences over the past decades have continued to affect agricultural productivity resulting into food insecurity thereby threatening the mainstream population.
Yuva Agro Farms Limited (YAFL) intends to develop the farm and grow cassava and maize to be used for the production of animal feed, biofuels, and industrial starch. The said crops will be rain fed. The main purpose of this Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is to improve project planning by ensuring environmental considerations are taken into account in all aspects of the project implementation from preparation to decommissioning phase. It is also in fulfilment of the requirements of the Environmental Management Act (EMA) of 2011.
The proposed project will be fully integrated into a commercial agriculture scheme for cassava/maize crops and its ancillary infrastructure including a 15ton biodiesel plant. The project will involve land clearing, tilling, levelling, planting and harvesting. Exploiting this potential will enable Yuva Agro Farms to contribute to increased overall national production levels of maize and cassava which are far short of meeting demand at national and regional level. Yuva Agro farm’s geographical location in the north of Luano district which gives it a competitive edge given that this part of the country is near to the equatorial region and less vulnerable to rain variability compared to the southern part.