Maravi

Govt admits poor planning on maize marketing

Govt admits poor planning on maize marketing
By Chiwoyu Sinyangwe
Mon 02 Aug. 2010, 04:00 CAT

THERE are problems in the current maize marketing season, agriculture minister Peter Daka has admitted.

The current maize marketing season has be marred by discontent by most key stakeholders following little activity from Food Reserve Agency (FRA) and government’s lack of a clear position on disposing of the estimated 1.3 million metric tonnes of maize earmarked for export.

Whereas FRA has started entering the market with some skimpy purchases following the correction of moisture content in most stocks, the greatest activity is coming from ‘briefcase’ grain buyers who are buying the crop as low as K25, 000 per 50 kilogrammes, way below the FRA recommended price of K65, 000.

Speaking during the Cavmont Bank Limited-sponsored Judges Luncheon at the Zambia Agricultural and Commercial Show, Daka said the government did not plan well and was ill-prepared to deal with the 2.7 million metric tonnes produced from the last farming season.

“The onus is on the government, and private sector to find the market for the crop,” Daka said. “It is cheaper for the country to produce and have surplus rather than to import the food that we require.”

Daka said the current problems in the maize marketing exercise were a result of poor planning.

He said the current malaise in the maize marketing resulted in exploitation of peasant farmers, who contributed 80 per cent of the country’s annual output.

“We have a marketing problem and we are solving it,” Daka said.

“We are saying to the farmers in rural areas that FRA will go out and buy all the maize in 68 districts in the country. We underestimated the harvest and we only budgeted for K100 billion but we have managed to secure almost K800 billion. But that is not enough and that is why we need the private sector to get involved in the marketing of this maize.”

FRA has secured a K700 billion loan from commercial banks to buy 300,000 tonnes of maize from local farmers to help prop up prices after a good harvest. Daka also announced that the government was in discussion with World Food Programme (WFP) for maize exports to Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Darfur in Sudan.

Labels: FRA, MAIZE, PETER DAKA

posted by MrK @ 3:11 PM