Maravi

FRA begins construction of storage sheds countrywide

FRA begins construction of storage sheds countrywide
Written by Florence Bupe in Kapiri Mposhi and Emmanuel Kampamba in Mpulungu
Wednesday, August 12, 2009 7:18:42 PM

THE Food Reserve Agency (FRA) has commenced the construction of grain storage sheds around the country under the US $11.6 million concession loan from the Chinese government. The loan is meant to make possible the construction of about 98,000 metric tonnes of storage facilities in eight districts around the country.

Speaking during the ground-breaking ceremony for the construction of the sheds in Kapiri Mposhi, agriculture minister Dr Brian Chituwo said the agriculture sector was faced with a number of challenges that were impeding growth, including inadequate storage facilities.

“Although we have been recording surplus harvests over the last few years, our agriculture sector is still faced with many challenges, including the lack of storage facilities. As government, we will do our part to ensure that the project is completed on time,” he said.

A Chinese contractor, Camco Corporation, has been engaged to construct the eight sheds.

Dr Chituwo said the availability of additional storage sheds would enhance maize marketing for small-scale farmers around the country, and increase the possibility of exports.

Dr Chituwo also said the government was working towards ensuring that farmers were paid on time for the produce they supply during the ongoing maize marketing season.

“Consultations are ongoing to speedily pay our farmers. The export market is waiting. We are in consultation with FRA to try and work out modalities of servicing the export market,” said Dr Chituwo.

And FRA board chairperson Costain Chilala disclosed that the agency had almost fulfilled the crop purchase target for this year, but expressed worry at the payment mode.

“We have collected almost all the maize we intend to buy this year, but we don’t have the assurance that government will pay. FRA is in consultation with government to borrow money in order to alleviate the challenges that farmers are facing,” said Chilala.

Meanwhile, Camco Corporation vice-president Peng Jiping and Chinese Embassy representative Wang Hu stressed the significance of agriculture to Zambia’s economic growth, and pledged that country’s continued support to the sector.

The storage shed construction project is scheduled for completion by October 2010.

And 1,500 Mpulungu farmers are stranded with hundreds of bags of maize because the FRA has stopped buying the commodity from the farmers in the area.

District Cooperatives Union (DCU) manager Lawson Simunyola said farmers were now spending nights in the cold at different satellite depots because they did not know where to sell their maize.

He said less than a quarter of Mpulungu farmers had sold maize to FRA in this year's maize marketing season.

'' What has caused this problem is that FRA has only pledged to buy 4691 x 50 kilograms bags of maize from each satellite depot. But the farmers are saying this sealing is too low and it has disadvantaged them because some satellite depots in Mpulungu like Vyamba and Chitimbwa produce more than 20,000 x 50 kilogrammes bags of maize annually, respectively,'' he revealed.

Simunyola said the remedy to that problem would be for FRA to extend the maize marketing season and increase the sealing from 4691 bags and ensure that they bought every grain on the market like they did last year, adding that there were still more farmers who were currently ferrying maize to satellite depots for sale.

He wondered where the farmers were going to find money to buy fertilisers for the 2009/2010 farming season if they did not sell their maize.

'' Last evening they said on TV that fertiliser distribution will begin this month end but we don't know how our farmers will access these fertilizers because government has not yet bought their maize,'' said Simunyola.

And Simunyola said that over K2 billion was needed to clear the farmers in Mpulungu who had managed to sell their maize to FRA.

He said out of the K2 billion, only K403 million had so far been released and disbursed to farmers in the district.

Labels: BRIAN CHITUWO, CAMCO CORPORATION, COSTAIN CHILALA, FRA, SILOS, STORAGE

posted by MrK @ 6:19 PM