Zambia continued to face significant food insecurity, driven by the lingering impacts of the 2023–2024 El Niño-induced drought, climate variability, high food prices and structural poverty. Approximately 1.7 million people were in IPC Phase 3 (Crisis) or worse during 2025, despite some improvement from the peak of the drought emergency in 2024. Food access remained fragile, with chronic malnutrition persisting: around 32–35 per cent of children under 5 years were stunted, reflecting long-term dietary deficiencies and vulnerability. Zambia’s heavy reliance on rain-fed agriculture continued to heighten exposure to climate shocks.

Action Against Hunger continued its work to address both immediate food insecurity and longer-term drivers of hunger in six districts, including Western, Southern, Central and Eastern Provinces, where extreme hunger and climate vulnerabilities are most acute. Our focus remained on climate-smart agriculture, biodiversity and conservation, climate resilience and community-led savings (through Village Savings and Loan Associations), with a strong emphasis on community-based approaches, government collaboration, and evidence-driven programming.

One of our flagship initiatives was the Seeds of Hope climate-resilience programme, under which more than 1,600 farmers in drought-prone regions were trained to cultivate drought-resilient crops like black-eyed peas, enhancing both food security and income generation while reducing post-harvest losses.

Another major project was the Climate Resilient Agri-Food Systems (CREATE) programme, implemented with funding and partnership through Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit and the Zambian Ministry of Agriculture. CREATE supported around 4,000 smallholder farmers in Southern Province (Pemba, Monze, Mazabuka) by rehabilitating and constructing irrigation infrastructure, promoting climate-smart farming, expanding water access, and strengthening capacity to mitigate climate shocks and undernutrition. These programmes combined climate adaptation with livelihood support to shift communities from survival to sustainable resilience.