Did Structural Adjustment Programme have the desired results in Zambia?
It seems to have a bitter pill to swallow especially for the poor and people in outlying areas. Debt repayments and the Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs) of the IMF and World Bank have hurt the poorest in Zambia and have diverted government resources away from essential services such as health and education and assistance to small farmers. Between 1991and 1993 in Zambia, public expenditure on such services halved. The following figures were for the year 2002: Life Expectancy – 41 years; Annual Income per person $ 780; 63.6% of the population live on less than $1 per day; 47% of population are undernourished; 21.52 % of the population are living with HIV/AIDS (Population is around 10.8 million) Compared to the late 1980s, maize remains the dominant crop, but production for sale has fallen sharply, particularly from the rich farmer class. A reduction in the cattle population stimulated an increase in small stock ownership. There has been some crop diversification; principally into
