Maravi

Millers buying maize to address farmers’ grain wastage - Cottan

Millers buying maize to address farmers’ grain wastage - Cottan
By By Florence Bupe and Mutale Kapekele
Sun 14 Nov. 2010, 04:00 CAT

MILLERS are still purchasing maize from peasant farmers as a way of helping address the challenge of grain wastage. And farmers in Monze and Kalomo have confirmed that some of the maize that was supplied to the Food Reserve Agency has gone to waste after it was soaked by heavy rains.

In an interview, Millers Association of Zambia chairperson Peter Cottan said some members of the association were buying maize from farmers at prices ranging from K980 to K1,000 per kilogramme.

Cottan said the association realized that there were still farmers who had not managed to sell their produce to FRA during the just ended crop marketing season, and deemed it fit to step in and help manage the country’s harvest.

Zambia has this year recorded an unprecedented maize harvest of 2.8 million metric tonnes of maize but various concerns have been raised over the management of the harvest, with grain going to waste in some parts of the country as a result of poor storage.

“Millers still have an appetite for maize and some members are still purchasing maize from farmers at even better prices. Farmers should find ways of getting their maize to the market as millers are still willing to buy,” said Cottan.

And Vincent Mainza, a Monze farmer, confirmed in a telephone interview that some of the maize that was supplied to the FRA had gone to waste.

The FRA purchased close to a million metric tonnes of maize from farmers across the country, which almost tripled the 300,000 metric tonnes that were planned for.

This presented storage and transportation challenges to the agency and most of the maize ended up in the open with just ordinary tents to cover them.

Mainza said affected depots in Monze, where maize was damaged by rain included Hampande, Millele, katimba and Nteme.

He also observed that only maize that was packed in grain bags provided by the farmers was affected.

The agency had run out of grain bags at the beginning of the marketing season and accepted bags that were provided by the farmers.

And Kalomo grain trader Wisdom Moono confirmed that maize grain bags provided by the farmers rotted just after that first rains leading to some of the grain germinating.

Moono also said some of the maize was cooked by the sun due to long periods of exposure.
Unconfirmed reports are suggesting that a substantial amount of the 2.7 million metric tonnes of this year’s bumper harvest has gone to waste.

Labels: FRA, MAIZE, PETER COTTAN, VINCENT MAINZA, WISDOM MOONO

posted by MrK @ 6:25 PM