Introduction

As a day dawns, people wake up to face different challenges. To

most the questions that come up in their minds are either, “where

will my food come from?” or “who is going to protect me from my

oppressors?” For such people, their day will usually end in misery.

Such people are always hoping for miracles to happen in their

lives. These are the people who make up about 75 percent of the

earth’s population. They are the poor, the oppressed. In another

part of the world (or even in the same neighbourhood), another

person wakes up, in a large well furnished house to find breakfast

already set on the table. Such are the elite, who have everything

that constitutes a luxurious life. The purpose of this essay is not

to point a finger at the rich but to explain the concept of

poverty, its meaning and types in the Zambian context. Zambia, as a

developing country is facing a challenge to reduce or even

eradicate poverty. A third of the population lives in poverty.

There is a wide valley between the living standards of the people.

Only a small fraction of Zambians enjoy the benefits of the cutting

age era. The analysis of poverty cannot be done without referring

to Zambian communities, the meaning, distribution, effects and

levels of poverty in a Zambian community. This essay, therefore,

aims to bring out all these including its causes. It further brings

out suggestions that might help in loosening the chains that hold

the poor and oppressed. Lastly, a conclusion is made according to

the views that will be highlighted in the essay.

What is poverty?

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The term poverty is difficult to define because it is a broad term

that can be defined differently by different people. Even if the

definition is compound, it is of utmost importance that we have a

core definition of poverty because, without such a definition, it

would be impossible to know who is living in poverty and who is

not. The etymological definition of poverty is that “it is a state

of lacking adequate resources to lead a decent lifestyle; it is

also a state of inequality”. In Zambia, poverty can be defined as

“a situation where a person’s income is below the average price for

the local food basket”.

Types of Poverty

Poverty in Zambia can be classified into either rural or urban

poverty. Rural poverty is poverty that occurs in rural areas while

urban poverty is one that is consistent with urban areas. The

effects of these might differ slightly. They can further be divided

into absolute and relative poverty which are sub-divided into case

and community poverty.

Urban poverty is the type of poverty that occurs in urban areas and

rural poverty is poverty that occurs in rural areas of the country.

These can either be absolute or relative.

Absolute poverty. According to the World Bank, this type of poverty is

“a situation where incomes are so low that even a minimum standard

of nutrition, shelter and personal necessities cannot be

maintained. It is the type of poverty where a person’s daily income

is below $1. In other words, absolute poverty means that an

individual is so poor that his /her next meal might mean the

difference between life and death.

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Relative poverty. F. De Beer defines this type of poverty as “where one

entity is poor in relation to another entity”. This refers to

people whose basic necessities are met, but whom, in terms of their

social environment, still experience some disadvantages. For

instance, in relation to the United States of America (USA), Zambia

is the poorer country.

These types are further sub-divided according to how they are

experienced.

Case poverty. This is the type of poverty that exists when certain

individuals or families do not share in the general well being of

society due to perhaps being poor or belonging to a lower class.

Amartya Sen attributed the cause of this type poverty to what he

called “variations in relational perspectives in people” he went on

to say “being relatively poor in a rich community would prevent a

person from performing his functioning”. This can also be the case

with a person living a community that has people of different

ethnics or religion. The best example of this can perhaps be

Madras, in Lusaka. A Christian Negroid living in this community

will find it difficult to freely participate in the day to day

activities of the community. It is common to find that people in

such communities mingle only with those of their race or religion.

Case poverty is mostly common in urban areas of the country because

everyone is close to where they can get their daily supplements.

People in rural areas are closer together due to dependency on one

another for basics.

Community poverty. This is the type of poverty where the whole

community is poor. This is the type of poverty most common in rural

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areas of the country. It is mostly the case that famine and

malnutrition are common in affected societies. This is also known

as “mass poverty”.

.

Back ground.

The active fight against poverty in Zambia cannot be traced to pre-

independence times because the whites only concentrated their

attention to whites and ignored Africans. Since the 1980’s, Zambia

has been amongst the countries in Sub Saharan Africa that

experienced decreases in economic output. The causes of this varied

from economic, social to political. In an attempt to alleviate

poverty, the Zambian government in conjunction with the World Bank

introduced Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) in the 1980s. This

indicated the government’s involvement in the fight against

poverty. The government also saw the importance of creating

employment as a way reducing poverty. It devised a system of

recruiting as secondary school graduates for National service. It

also started employing anyone capable, whether qualified or not,

for work in firms and companies.

In 1991, the Movement for Multi-party Democracy (MMD) thought it

wise to privatise state owned firms so as to promote the public’s

participation in the country’s economy. It expected this incentive

to bring competition and efficiency to the economy, which would

create employment and not only development but also a reduction to

the level of poverty. When parastatals and firms were privatised,

the new owners, mostly foreign nationals, wanted efficiency and

specialization in their companies. These aims/desires caused a lot

of the unqualified people lose their jobs through retrenchments.

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The people who lost their jobs were mostly those unqualified. The

retrenchments brought untold misery and hardships to the people and

the nation’s economic output declined. As a result, the levels of

unemployment and poverty reached new heights. Since then the levels

of poverty have been high.

Causes of poverty

Among the causes of poverty in Zambia are natural disasters

(droughts and floods), people’s activities like backward farming

techniques (chitemene), beliefs and activities and also the

government.

The government is a key player in determining the nation’s economic

status. Its policies will have an effect on the levels of poverty.

As stated in A Global Agenda: Issues Before the 54th General

assembly, “Underlying all these initiatives [for development] is

the assumption that poverty eradication and good governance are

inseparable … because good governance brings about a proper balance

among state action, the private sector, civil society, and the

communities themselves” (Tessitore 105). The main way through which

the government has caused poverty is through its policies that

promote urban development. The result of this has been improvements

in urban areas at the expense of rural areas. Development in urban

areas has been rampart while poverty in rural areas has also

increased rampantly. .

The government’s image before other governments also determines the

level of poverty in our country. Zambia as a developing country

depends on developed countries for financial help, in order for it

to carry out the many programmes it is undertaking. The

mismanagement of the Ministry of Health’s donor funds is an act of

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the poor administration in the government because many of the

culprits are government officials. Such events can discourage

foreign governments from funding development projects in the

country. It can also be blamed for the occurrence of poverty

because it has failed to warn people of droughts and floods. It has

caused poverty in an attempt to punish constituencies that did not

vote for it in the previous election. The withholding of funds for

some projects in Lusaka, Copperbelt and Southern Provinces is an

act of punishing people because they did not vote for it.

Corruption is also a contributing factor to the nation’s high

levels of poverty. It reduces people’s chances. Many people’s

opportunities are taken by greedy individuals who want more than

enough for themselves. It deepens the poverty trap because it

pushes people’s opportunities beyond their reach.

Droughts and floods are the unstoppable causers of poverty.

Droughts are periods of little or no rain. These halt farming

activities because people fear the risk of wasting the little seeds

that they have. In the case of sowed crops, they dry off and die.

As a result, people’s food supply is wiped and the country

(communities) experiences food insecurity, which will at times lead

to poverty. Poverty in Southern Province is due to this.

Floods on the other hand, are periods of excessive rains. These

destroy crops already grown and also result in poverty. Last year’s

high level of poverty in Western Province was due to floods.

People in the affected areas are also to blame for the occurrence

of poverty. Their dogmatic beliefs that one’s poverty is one’s

predestination are ridiculous. These have caused a large number of

people to take the calls to the fight against poverty as illusions.

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Their farming techniques and occupations have also caused poverty.

Farming techniques like chitemene and activities like uncontrolled

cutting of trees affect the rain cycle which might result in

droughts, which directly affects the level of poverty.

Levels of poverty

The data collected by the Central Statistics office (CSO), shows

that over 70 percent of the Zambian population live in poverty.

Only a small fraction is above the poverty line. The occurrence of

poverty in rural areas is high as compared to urban areas. Of the

70 percent poor, the majority are extremely poor, with over half

being in rural areas. The level of poverty is high in rural areas

than in urban areas because those in urban areas are closer to

social services like health, education, markets etc. The isolation

of the rural areas makes people living in the areas vulnerable to

poverty. This isolation is mostly due to their (people in rural

areas) physical weakness (because the able bodied have defected to

cities and other better villages.

In urban areas, the majority of the poor are moderately poor. The

availability of social services of education, health, markets etc

has improved people’s living conditions.

Distribution of poverty

The use of the minimum food basket and the absolute poverty

approach (using a fixed poverty line) to measure poverty, by the

Central statistics Office helps better understand the distribution

of poverty in the country.

At national level, about 76 percent of the population is poor, with

the majority being absolutely poor. A small fraction of these are

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employed, either in formal or informal sectors of the economy. The

majority of the poor are those above the age of 50 and young

adults.

The distribution of poverty at provincial levels show that in 2001

Western Province had the highest incidence of poverty with almost

80 percent of the population, 78 percent of whom were extremely

poor. Luapula, Eastern, northern and southern Province followed in

that order. Lusaka and Copperbelt had the lowest levels of poverty

which was approximated to be 35 percent and 47 percent

respectively.

The following extract from JCTR the first Annual General Conference

shows the distribution of poverty at district levels. “The

provincial and rural differentials in the incidence of poverty mask

a lot of variations between districts within and across provinces.

Of the 72 districts Lukulu (western province) and Petauke (Eastern

Province) and chilubi (Northern Province) fared with approximately

98 percent and 91 of the households, respectively, living in

poverty in 1998.

Shangombo district in Western Province had the highest percentage

(90%) of households living in extreme poverty. Other districts with

elevated incidence of extreme poverty were Chavuma in Northern

Province (88%). Luangwa (Lusaka Province) 84 percent, Samfya

(Luapula Province) and Chilubi (Northern Province) 82 percent, as

well as Gwembe in Southern Province 81percent. Senanga (Western

Province) and Samfya (Luapula Province) both had 80 percent of

their households living in extreme poverty in 1998. Overall, only

about 20 percent of all the 72 districts in Zambia had poverty

levels below the national level”.

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To better understand the distribution of poverty in Zambia, it is

important to look at its distribution and characteristics with

certain demographic (gender, age, household size and marital

status) and economic (education and employment) aspects.

Poverty has been observed to have a gender bias. Studies show that

households headed by females are most vulnerable to poverty. Most

of these households are extremely poor. The proportion of the

moderately poor for male headed households is higher than for

female headed households. Although this is so, the overall

proportion shows that female headed households are the ones mostly

vulnerable to poverty.

The distribution of poverty in relation to age shows that people

above the age of 50 make up most of the extremely poor (72% of

those over 50 are extremely poor). The active population also shows

that most are extremely poor (42% of the active population is

absolutely poor and 17% is moderately poor). 35 percent of those

aged between 12-19 years are extremely poor and only 17 percent are

moderately poor.

Generally, except for Southern and Eastern Provinces, the rest of

the provinces have a pattern of increasing extreme household

poverty with increasing household size. Southern and Eastern

Provinces have lower incidence of poverty in relation to household

size due to the fact that these are agricultural provinces.

Everyone, including young people who might be unproductive

participates in agricultural activities, thus increasing resource

base of the population. This year, the level of poverty in Southern

province has increased due to the occurrence of drought.

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The incidence of poverty at national level is high in households

were the head is married. The picture is different at district

level, where poverty is high in households were the head is

divorced. The ones affected most by this are women. In the event of

death of the head (husband), women have to first deal with

recalcitrant relatives of the husband who are after snatching

property from her and her children. Unfortunately, at times she

might not be successful in retaining her belongings and hence she

will be forced to look for employment. The situation is mostly

worse if the woman is unqualified.

“Education is an important factor in determining the poverty

status of individuals and indeed that of households. This is so

because education widens the options for the acquisition of

resources. For example, someone with some level of formal education

is more likely to get employed, earn a wage and be able to provide

at least the minimum basic needs of the members of his/her

household. It follows therefore that the higher the educational

level one attains the better the chances for wage employment which

in turn increases someone’s ability to provide for the basic needs

of the family” (JCTR 2001).

Statistics show that households headed by people without any formal

education have the highest incidence of poverty than those with

formal education. Those in extreme poverty are mainly people who

never went beyond the seventh grade. The smallest fraction is of

those with formal qualifications like certificates. “Households

headed by those employed in agriculture, forestry and fishing have

the highest incidence of poverty estimated at about 84 percent and

83 percent respectively” (JCTR 2001). Households headed by those

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employed in the private sector exhibited the next highest incidence

of poverty estimated at roughly 74 percent. On the other hand,

households headed by people employed in the financial sector

recorded the lowest incidence of poverty. Effects of poverty

For a thorough understanding of the effects, they must be separated

into rural and urban effects. Poverty has impacted negatively on

rural areas. Because of low living standards, and non employment

opportunities, the young and energetic have defected to urban areas

or other better off villages. This has resulted in under population

of rural areas. Development is impossible because those who remain

in these places are mostly adolescents and old people who are not

energetic enough to produce anything from the land. The natural

resources are therefore left with no one to utilise them. Food

production is lowered not only because of lack of income for inputs

but also because of rural areas lacking man power. Vulnerability of

rural areas is made worse by the fact that there is no one to

protect the old and adolescents from those who want to take

advantage of them. As a result, poverty is high here as compared to

urban areas only because of the isolation, but also there is no one

to make use of the land.

Social services are determined by the number of people in an area,

when an area has a lot of people, social services like health,

education, markets etc are good, but when people are few ( and

poor), social services provided are of poor quality. This has

resulted in rural areas having poor services, as a consequence, “a

lot of people die from curable diseases” (UNINFO 2003.8).

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The constant high level of poverty in rural areas has resulted in

people believing that they will always be poor. This has largely

affected development plans and incentives to alleviate because

local people do not participate in development projects.

Poverty has adversely resulted in a lot of vices and disadvantages

sprouting in urban areas. It has made urban life a misery than

heaven to many people. The dreams of a good life have been achieved

by many, but the consequences of these have brought untold misery.

In an environment where money controls almost everything, poor

people have gone to extremes as they attempt to survive, they have

been forced to engage in different activities, many of which are

unlawful. Of late pocket thieves and robbers have increased. A

person can rob you in people’s presence. The surprising thing is

that at times onlookers might not do anything. The reason for this

might not be known, “are they with the culprit, or has it become so

usual that people consider it normal?” It is perhaps due to the

culprits’ poverty because a person can only take risks when he is

in absolute need of something. Most alarming on the effect of

poverty on the rate of crime is the development of ‘ungovernable

communities’ like Chibolya. If these are not quickly addressed,

control over these communities will totally be lost.

The high spread of sexually transmitted diseases has been aided by

poverty. Many people, mostly women, have engaged in prostitution in

order for them to have some income. In the long run, this will have

a negative impact on Zambia’s economy. Statistics show that one in

twenty Zambians is suffering from HIV/AIDS. This shows that Zambia

is losing potential sources of man power and labour at a

threatening rate.

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Urbanisation (the concentration of development in an urban area or

city) has resulted in a lot of people migrating from rural areas or

other towns affected by poverty to urbanised places. Urban areas

have therefore become overpopulated. People have to make long

queues for anything, medical facilities, paying bills and even when

buying food. Overcrowding has also surfaced even in buses and

hospitals. This has resulted in a lot of vices, which have dire

consequences, taking root. It has led to the development of shanty

compounds and other unplanned settlements. Zambia is at the moment

experiencing a problem of street vending. This illegal practice is

a sign that market spaces are unavailable. Hygienically,

overcrowding is risky because it promotes the spread of airborne

and water diseases. Diseases are like cholera are spreading easily

in shanty compounds because of the closeness, poor and unplanned

houses. In times of disease outbreaks, a lot of people die not only

because of poor health services but also because health personnel

find it difficult to attend to the large number of patients. There

is a shortage of health personnel.

Poverty has caused a lot of Zambians to be lazy. Such people have

preferred begging in the streets to working to earn a living. These

are the very people who, when things do not go as planned, engage

in unlawful activities like crime. This and many other effects of

poverty if not checked can lead to economic and social turmoil.

Cures to poverty

Even before measures to alleviate poverty are suggested, one has to

know the type of poverty to be alleviated. It is of utmost

importance for one to know that relative poverty cannot be

eradicated (alleviated) because people differ in their aspirations

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and desires. So, all measures to alleviate poverty must be aimed at

absolute poverty. “The problem of poverty is income-people need

jobs and you need wealth creation for that to take place”.

Development can therefore be regarded as the cure to poverty. The

process of alleviating poverty should not be seen as a rapid but

gradual process.

The participation of both the government and individuals is the key

to the alleviation of poverty. The government’s plans for

development should therefore include the public’s participation. It

should encourage people to participate in national production.

Opening retraining schemes is a good start to the alleviation of

unemployment.

The government should, in an attempt to lure investors to invest in

rural areas, set certain rural areas as tax free. This can lead to

the development of rural areas. It should desist from using its

powers to hurt people who did not vote for it; instead it should

promote hard work amongst citizens. The government should also

maintain a good image before international investors and foreign

governments. If the country has a stable political history and good

trade laws, investors get attracted.

Since the majority of people in Zambia live in rural areas, the

government should improve the provision of basic services (health

and education) in these areas. The improvement of communication,

education, health and the provision of jobs will prevent people

from defecting to urban areas or other better places. As a result,

rural areas will be productive and the level of poverty would fall.

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Alleviating corruption increases people’s chances on various things

like employment. Both the public and government should join hands

in a serious fight against the practice.

In many cases, subsistence farmers are manipulated to sale their

farm products at low prices by ‘briefcase’ businessmen. The

government should put in place measures to prevent such practices.

Farmers should form cooperatives. The government should encourage

the production of food (farming) by subsidising on farming

implements. It should also buy what is produced from farmers to

prevent them from hoarding it.

Societies should be taught about the importance of the environment,

they should be taught better farming techniques like using organic

manure instead of ash. They should also be made aware of the

importance that trees play in the rain cycle.

Diversifying the economy away from agriculture to other sources of

income and food i.e. tourism and fishing would encourage those who

failed to find employment in this sectors to try their luck in

other sectors. This can result in the country being self sufficient

in food production.

The government should restructure the Citizen Economic Empowerment

Programme (CEEP) and see to it that funds are available to the

public. It should also give reliefs during floods and droughts

regardless of whether the people concerned voted for or against it.

Conclusion

As has been put, poverty is an issue that has affected all angles

of life in Zambia; it has affected a lot people in one way or the

other. It is distributed unevenly in the country. People who are

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The causes of poverty are mostly internal (political and social)

and natural (floods and droughts). Natural factors cannot be

controlled avoided to same extent. Poverty is something that should

be addressed as early as possible because if it is left, the

results can have dire consequences on the nation. In extreme cases,

authorities can lose control of some areas. Alleviating poverty

cannot be done single solely by either the government or the

public. These two should work together in the fight. The

alleviation of poverty cannot be achieved over night, dedication by

the government and the public will eventually lead to the

eradication of absolute poverty.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Alternatives to Neo-Liberalism in Southern Africa (ANSA), (2007)

Towards a people driven development agenda, ANSA secretariat.

De Beer,F. Swanepoel,H. (1998),Introduction to Development Studies,

Oxford University Press Southern Africa, Cape Town.

Nonde, J. Fighting for jobs, justice and equality in Africa: War

on Poverty, a call from UNI-Africa, March 2003.

Tessitore (1976), A Global Agenda: Issues before the 54 th General

assembly.

Todaro M, Smith S. (2003 10th edition) Economic Development. Dorling

Kindersley (India) pvt Ltd.

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