The Food Reserve Agency has announced it will in this year’s crop marketing season pay K110 for a 50kg bag of white maize.
The Agency has also fixed the price of a 50kg bag of Soya Beans at K150 and paddy rice at K70 for a 40kg bag.
Announcing the development at a media briefing, FRA Executive Director Chola Kafwabulula said the Agency will this year buy 1 million metric tonnes of maize as announced by President Edgar Lungu recently.
Mr Kafwabulula said the private sector is expected to purchase the remainder of the over 3 million metric tones of maize that the country is expected to harvest.
Zambia’s agriculture sector is this year expected to produce over 3 million metric tones of maize as announced by Agriculture Minister Michael Katambo.
President Edgar Lungu said recently that Government will buy more than 1 million metric tonnes of Maize for strategic reserves during this year’s maize marketing season.
The President said the government wants to take advantage of this year’s bumper harvest to buy more maize as the weather patterns for next year cannot be predicted due to climate change.
The President asked the Ministry of Finance to fund the FRA on time so that they start purchasing maize on time.
The President further instructed the Agency to avail the Minister of Finance with a schedule on procurement of maize to enable the ministry to start processing payments.
As long as your payment terms aren’t favourable farmers will shun you
Usual peanuts, but anyway you are stuck with paying Kaloba borrowed on the open markets
FRA, please evolve, much as your mandate is strategic reserves, you can create a wing that can start growing Maize and other crops for the Congo market. The lucrative prices in Congo which are sometimes four times or five times higher than normal prices for a bag of maize or mealie meal are too attractive. Come and demystify this myth that exporting to Congo is smuggling. A serious government would have looked at the Congo as a very strategic country, Can we for once wake up please
KBF will come and change things. Lets all do the right thing at the convention, We cant continue on this path of decline. We are humans, God gave us brains to discern things
KBF will end up like Wynter Kabimba-he thought he was a factor but got a 1% vote!! At least Wynter was on GRZ, KBF is a social media commentator….
@ Kasenga Mumbi you have a point there buddy.But FRA are not business oriented,they only wait upon the mininstry of finance to fund them,shame
@ Kasenga Mumbi and Bumper: both of u are right. This disease of not being business oriented is killing the nation. We can see that even at constituency level, this virus is prevalent. Since 1991, the central government has been injecting constituency development funds in all constituencies but to-date no entity has created any sustainable business/employment in their constituencies. In other countries, these constituencies would have used such funds to create sustainable development/employment and there would have been no need for young people to move into Lusaka and Copperbelt in search of employment.
This doesn’t make sense !! do Micheal Katambo even know the price of fertilizer ? All the inputs were purchased at high prices.
He He heee! Tell me who a brief case buyer is.
The FRA should seriously consider buying maize then processing it into mealie meal, stock feed etc and then exporting after keeping enough for local consumption. 1. they would not have to depend on Govt for funding 2. they will become self sustaining in the long run 3. the can offer better prices to farmers for their hard work 4. they will attract more farmer/suppliers to come on board 5. they will create jobs through value addition
This is laughable…I hope farmers are ready this time to sell to neighbours as once PF thieves are done with gold they will remove ban to sell to neighboring countries so they can make a quick profit …the likes of GBM are waiting to haul maize to DRC and Malawi
Aya ni masese tah!
@Sara I guess my chief will cane you if today you asked him that question
Rubbish. Farmers let us sell to those with better offers and get good profits for ourselves. Let those who complain about mealie meal prices develop spines to cultivate for themselves.
Not my maize! I won’t sell at 110 per bag. Atase
Zambians why do you complain over EVERYTHING? FRA is giving its price. You have known how long FRA takes to pay. So where is the problem? if you are a farmer, find your own market for more than that useless K110. Chapwa. None farmers just focus on buying bunga from the profit making milling companies. Fullstop. Thats how it is. Yaba kwati ni its Kambwili or HH who want power & when they get it they will be no different. Sata was same. RB same
I laugh sometimes when people talk about business. Business has one simple word …profit . If possible exploit if you have but others don’t .let’s not fool ourselves . You want the govt to buy it at the higher price? But you want bunga to be cheap! 3 million metric tones is for private sector.thats where business is. These are the ones who should be allowed to export to Congo and Malawi. Let’s stop the nosense lies that people in Zambia are dying of hunger. Let’s make money when we can
PF and it’s policies. They were boasting just this week that they will buy one million tonnes of maize after only managing to buy 200 thousand plus tonnes last year.The last time FRA bought one million tonnes was in 2011,since then hardly 300 thousand is bought reason,the nation is broke.Where is the money….
It hurts to see people being shot and killed just for selling their own produce in foreign market.