Sugar production in Zambia - in pictures

Harvesting sugar cane at Zambia Sugar plantation, Mazabuka.Despite being the second largest sugar company in the world, they have reduced the amount of tax they pay to less than 0.5% in five years. Between 60-80% of the population live in poverty, and the figure has remained constantly high over the last 10 years. More funding through tax would enable the government to tackle health problems facing communities like those in Nakambala. Photograph: Jason Larkin/Panos Pictures/ActionAid

Irene Hangoma, (centre, looking up) at Ndege Basic School, Zambia. Irene is a 12 and hopes to become a bank manager when she is older. Her school lacks basic facilities such as desks. "We feel bad reading whilst standing. We do not feel good at all. We need more desks and at least a floor." Photograph: Jason Larkin/Panos Pictures/ActionAid

One of the mian processing factories at Zambia Sugar plantation, Mazabuka. Photograph: Jason Larkin/Panos Pictures/ActionAid

Loveness Banda (sitting on the floor on the right of the picture), in a crowded classroom at Ndege Basic School, Zambia. Loveness, 10, lives in Mazabuka, where Zambia Sugar operates. "There is nothing" she said, describing the school. "A few of us sit on the ground because there aren't enough desks." Loveness hopes to become a journalist when she is older. "I look forward to completing my education so that I can take care of my parents." Photograph: Jason Larkin/Panos Pictures/ActionAid

Children play in a derelict classroom at Ndege Basic School. Zambia's government supports free education, however without funding this is impossible to achieve. Photograph: Jason Larkin/Panos Pictures/ActionAid

Children in a class at Ndege Basic School, Zambia, where the students have few resources. Photograph: Jason Larkin/Panos Pictures/ActionAid

Nakambala Urban Health Clinic, Mazabuka, Zambia. Photograph: Jason Larkin/Panos Pictures/ActionAid

Sister Florence (sitting left of the picture) with other nurses and employees at Nakambala Urban Health Clinic, Mazabuka. "If people can't afford to pay for their prescription they just go, there's nothing we can do and there's nothing they can do." The country is rich with natural resources however the profits from exports are often not seen by the local people working for the corporations. Photograph: Jason Larkin/Panos Pictures/ActionAid

Dailess Mwiinga runs a nutrition workshop for mothers at Nakambala Urban Health Clinic, Mazabuka. Mazabuka is known as the sweetest town in Zambia, being rich in the natural resource of sugar. However the reality of the situation couldn't be more different where malnutrition and poverty are rife. "The situation is difficult", she says, "the children always appear to be malnourished, underweight with swollen bodies. I urge Zambia Sugar company to be helping all the clinics in Mazabuka because their workers always come to these clinics." Photograph: Jason Larkin/Panos Pictures/ActionAid

Prisca Monga collects water near her house at Mulonga Extension on the outskirts of Mazabuka. Her husband, a carpenter by trade, stopped working for Zambia Sugar in 2003, and cannot find work. Prisca sells vegetables at the Mulonga Extension market, but it often isn't enough to cover the rent. As a result, it is sometimes impossible to pay her children's PTA fees and her son has had several spells off school. Photograph: Jason Larkin/Panos Pictures/ActionAid

Prisca Monga at home in the Mulonga Extension on the outskirts of Mazabuka, Zambia. Photograph: Jason Larkin/Panos Pictures/ActionAid

In the background, Citibank in Lusaka where the accounts of Zambia Sugar are registered Photograph: Jason Larkin/Panos Pictures/ActionAid

The collector of market stall rates at Nakambala Market, Mazabuka. Photograph: Jason Larkin/Panos Pictures/ActionAid

Caroline Muchanga shows her receipt for the market stall tax she has to pay at Nakambala Market. Caroline, a mother of three, said: "The tax we usually pay is too high considering that the profit that we make is very little." Caroline works seven days a week at almost 15 hours a day. Photograph: Jason Larkin/Panos Pictures/ActionAid

A worker harvests sugar cane at Zambia Sugar plantation in Mazabuka. Photograph: Jason Larkin/Panos Pictures/ActionAid