Maravi

Maize marketing at crossroads

Maize marketing at crossroads
By Editor
Tue 08 June 2010, 08:20 CAT

We can state with full consciousness that the current maize bumper output the country achieved this year is a disaster in the making.

The potential of this feat going sour is so high. And every day, we see this potential racing towards fruition – at least, if the behaviour of key stakeholders in the maize marketing is anything to go by.

For background’s sake, we would like to state that records are there to show that the country has struggled to export its 280, 000 metric tonnes of maize from the previous season. This scenario has been exacerbated this year by the 2.8 million metric tonnes output our farmers have delivered for the 2009/2010 farming season.

We were not particularly as excited as other misguided government fanatics when agriculture minister went on the podium to celebrate the highest crop harvest in about 22 years.

This record output puts the country in an awkward position, simply for two principal reasons: the country has never been ready to explore export markets for its maize while on the other hand we have produced more than we need.

And today, the Zambia National Farmers Union has called for the re-introduction of the marketing board to oversee the purchase and eventual sale of agricultural commodities.

The farmers’ body has since suggested that millers and grain traders be banned from directly purchasing maize and other agricultural commodities from small-scale farmers as they often buy the crops at below production-cost price.
Jervis Zimba, the president of the farmers union, is today telling us that there is need for the creation of one institution, such as the defunct National Marketing Board (NAMBOARD), that will solely oversee the purchase of maize from farmers in the country.

Zimba who uses Malawi and Zimbabwe as test cases is also saying the deregulation in maize marketing has proved that it can never work to better the lives of poor farmers and mealie-meal consumers.

We sense a lot of desperation in Zimba’s musings and we understand his concern. Zimba is definitely a president in a very difficult situation and this is the situation most of our farmers find themselves in. NAMBOARD remained the buyer of last resort and a government tool for intervening in the market. Producer prices of all controlled agricultural commodities, except maize for which a fixed price was determined, were set as floor prices.

NAMBOARD’s existence was synonymous with tenets of a commandist economy then.

We therefore do not fully support the reintroduction of the NAMBOARD look-like arrangement because we know it will be prone to abuse. We say so because NAMBOARD itself was forced to cease operations because it had a lot of bottlenecks and deficiencies. Our people need to be reminded that President Rupiah Banda once served as chief executive officer of NAMBOARD – a position he was unceremoniously hounded out of by former president Kenneth Kaunda.

We, however, fully agree with Zimba when he calls for a total review of the maize production and marketing system in the country. This should start with the Food Reserve Agency (FRA).

There is need to reform the FRA especially with respect to how it deals with small-scale farmers. We know very well that the FRA rarely pays the farmers on time. The FRA has actually become a negative distortion in its own right; failing to provide the level of certainty in revenue streams that farmers desperately need to invest in more maize and other products.

The FRA should be more directly focused on food security, rather than large significant purchases of maize in the market. It might also be good if some food purchases were done through the ZAMACE rather than directly with farmers to reduce price distortions.

This is apparently so because the country has indeed produced more than we can possibly consume in one year.

Export subsidies are indispensable in this case because Zambian maize cannot compete competitively on the international front owing to high production costs.
When the incentives are correct and this country has a fully functioning FRA, farmers will have nothing to fear. More exports, more money in the pockets of rural dwellers to drive growth in other areas.

As we say all this, we are mindful that there is need to develop our maize production sector to make our local produce compete favourably with other efficient producers in the region like Malawi, Zimbabwe and the giant South Africa.

This can be achieved through better investment in education and research.
There is need for adequate investment in infrastructure, especially in rural areas as a way of reducing the cost of doing business.

Access to credit for smallholder farmers is very poor and consequently they continue to year-in-year-out depend on the government subsides embedded in the recently augmented Farm Input Support Programme.

Labels: MAIZE, MARKETING BOARDS, NAMBOARD

posted by MrK @ 5:02 PM