Based on a short field study in April 2004 of two areas within the Zambezi Valley, the authors report the case of largely dysfunctional food aid programmes. This forms the basis for a discussion of the wider issues it raises in Zambia, and indeed, in Southern Africa as whole.

The short story here is that a full two years after the food emergency year of 2002 when the Zambian maize harvest failed for the second year running, there was still distribution of relief food to households, at the rate of one 50 kg bag of maize a month seen in Sinazongwe and in Chiyawa Districts.