Farmers in Kawambwa district have complained at the slow pace at which the Food Reserve Agency (FRA) is buying maize in the area.
Speaking on behalf of the farmers, Philemon Chilufya said the pace at which FRA is buying maize was slow forcing farmers to spend a number of days at the maize satellite depots.
He accused the FRA of having breached the earlier agreement that farmers were to be paid 10 days after delivery of their produce to satellite depots.
Mr Chilufya has also complained at the small number of bags of maize allowed for each cooperative to sell to the FRA.
He said the 200 x 50 kg bags were not adequate because some areas had many satellite depots yet the same number is what was allowed.
Mr Chilufya said there was a risk of farmers being forced to start selling their produce to briefcase businessmen for fast cash.
Mr Chilufya has since appealed to the government to intervene and increase the number of bags if all farmers were to benefit.
Meanwhile, Kawambwa District Farmers Association (KADFA) coordinator Charles Wapalwena said about K189 million has so far been paid out to farmers.
Mr Wapalwena said another K100 million had been deposited into the bank and assured farmers that they would be paid what was due to them.
Asked why only one transporter was engaged to transport maize from satellite depots to the main shade, Mr Wapalwena said FRA was responsible for engaging of transporters.
He added that only one local transporter qualified to carry out the transportation of maize saying others who were engaged last year were not reliable.
Mr Wapalwena has since appealed to FRA to consider increasing the number of transporters for quick delivery of maize to the main shade.
And when asked for a comment, District Agriculture Coordinator (DACO)Henry Mugomba said so far, about K1.3 billion worth of maize had already been procured by FRA.
The Food Reserve Agency has targeted to buy over 32,000 x 50 kg bags of maize in Kawambwa district this marketing season.
ZANIS
The FRA is taking a suspicious course of action. Why are they so reluctant to support the farmers?
The FRA havent been given enough money by govt to buy maize. They have only been allocated enough to buy about 155 000 tonnes from an estimated grain output of 1.8 million. Grain marketing is not a priority for Bwezani like it was under Mwanawasa. It seems resources have been diverted towards emoluments for politicians i.e so called mid term gratuity. In civilised countries gratuity is paid at the end of a contract. The next time a govt official reads that speech with tired old lines…’the govt is committed……blah blah;’ please just kickass!
Well, I don’t understand why we should just have FRA as the sole buyer of maize. Is there any explanation? That is why I always say Zambia’s agriculture system is a social activity not an economic one. And farmers should also wake up. Is there a restriction as to why they cannot get loans to put up structures for production of such things as chicken feed, pig meal and mealie meal? That is what cooperatives should be looking at now so that they could compete with the likes National Milling. And that is what the CEEC should also encourage farmers to do when all they receive are applications for hardware shops or internet cafes.
Well, I don’t understand why we should just have FRA as the sole buyer of maize. Is there any explanation? That is why I always say Zambia’s agriculture system is a social activity not an economic one. And farmers should also wake up. Is there a restriction as to why they cannot get loans to put up structures for production of such things as chicken feed, p.i.g. meal and mealie meal? That is what cooperatives should be looking at now so that they could compete with the likes National Milling. And that is what the CEEC should also encourage farmers to do when all they receive are applications for hardware shops or internet cafes.
The problems is that the bandwagon takes you nowhere…it runs in a circles on the spot.
FRA has failed the nation at large. I thought Chilala Costtain being asuccessful commercial farmer would inspire FRA to higher levels of performance. als its the opposite. Failure has been exihibted by the Board despite changing CEO’s nothing is yielding results. MPs should take to task Brian Chituwo to explain the under performance of FRA. So that man with PhD’s is not functioning accordingly. Let us admit that FRA has 80% failed yearin year out. GRZ should streamline ops of FRA. Strengethen the Provincial Coops and FRA should concentrate on Managing Strategic Food Reserves at certain selected locations other wise pipo will kip on sleeping at satelite depots waiting for their cash. What a wasteful system. Bola same, economy same, politics insults day in day out. When are we going to…
After destroying a very good Cooperative -system Kaunda left.