Maravi

Govt lied over opening of maize marketing season – Fr Jere

Govt lied over opening of maize marketing season – Fr Jere
By Christopher Miti in Chipata
Sun 01 Aug. 2010, 04:07 CAT

A Catholic priest in Chipata has charged that government should apologise to farmers for telling a lie that the maize market would be opened on May 1, this year.

But Eastern Province permanent secretary Eularia Syamujaye said the moisture content in maize has been the biggest challenge to the province.

In an interview in Chipata last Wednesday, Kokwe Parish in-charge Father Dominic Jere said a person who tells a lie risked losing integrity.

“For me I think it’s not good for people who are holding high positions to say something that they will not put into practice because they lose their integrity. Integrity entails that what you say must match with what you do, if somebody says I have opened the market today and they are not buying, what’s that?” Fr Jere asked.

He said the government was supposed to consult technocrats from FRA whether the maize was ready to be sold on May 1 before making the announcements.

“You cannot just say we have opened the market and then afterwards you say the moisture content is high,” Fr Jere said.

He said most farmers would not benefit from the FRA market.

“Most farmers will not be helped because most of those who needed money sometime back they sold the maize to some briefcase buyers who always have money and these are the people that will in turn sell to FRA so the farmers will not be helped,” Fr Jere said.

He appealed to FRA to pay farmers as quickly as possible so that they could buy farm inputs.

Fr Jere said the briefcase buyers were buying maize at exploitative prices because the farmers were desperate to have the money.

“You know government said they would open the market on the 1st May but they were not buying the maize so it was a lie, it was not really opening, the markets have been opened now,” he said.

Fr Jere said it was evident that most farmers in Chipangali area and the surrounding areas would not benefit from the FRA market.

But Syamujaye said the moisture had been quite high in the province because of its terrain.

“We have a serious bumper harvest in terms of maize because the maize belt is now moving. It used to be Southern Province but now it’s getting to Eastern Province. Our challenge has been the moisture content; the moisture content because of the different terrains in the province has been quite high because what they (FRA) want is below 12 .5 per cent. Right now they have already started buying in Chama. Chama is a valley so it’s hotter than most of the districts, the most humid district I think is Katete because it’s the coldest that we have in the province,” Syamujaye said.

She appealed to farmers to be more patient with their crops.

“Admittedly, because of the poverty levels they might want to sell off until they get what they want especially when they are not very sure when FRA is buying but we have assured them because government is going to buy almost all the maize,” she said.
“ I would like to mention quickly that we are talking about the farmers and not those that will go out to buy at a cheap price and resell because those are too different but I am talking about the peasant farmers that may have benefited from the Fertiliser Input Support Programme.”

And Food Reserve Agency (FRA) Eastern Province marketing co-coordinator Godfrey Munyoro has said the agency has started allowing farmers to bring maize in their own grain bags.

Munyoro said the satellite depots would immediately receive and store maize in farmers’ own bags which should be in good and serviceable condition.

“This is an interim arrangement considering that FRA bags have run out at most satellite depots. Farmers will be allowed to deliver in their own bags…until August 20, 2010. Now on the type of bags to be expected, what we are saying is only good quality 50 kg bags will be expected, no bag previously used for chemicals or fertilizer shall be accepted then…,” Munyoro said.

He said the farmers would be given back their bags once the supply of FRA bags normalizes and that no money would be paid to the farmers as a refund. Munyoro said FRA had opened a number of satellite depots in the province.

“For Chama we have opened nine out of the ten which we are supposed to have; in Lundazi we have opened more than eight depots I think today (Wednesday) we are opening some more, Chipata we have opened three then today (Wednesday) we are opening another one in Mambwe; we opened one that’s Mphomwa, for Katete we haven’t opened because the moisture content is very high, Petauke we have opened about eight now that also applies to Sinda, in Nyimba we had opened some but it showered so there was a temporal suspension of the buying process to allow the maize to dry up , Chadiza we also have a problem of high moisture content,” explained Munyoro.

Labels: DOMINIC JERE, MAIZE

posted by MrK @ 3:40 AM