Maravi

3,000 bags of maize get soaked at FRA depot in Kasama

3,000 bags of maize get soaked at FRA depot in Kasama
By Ernest Mwape in Kasama
Mon 10 Jan. 2011, 04:00 CAT

MORE than 3,000 bags of maize at Kasama Food Reserve Agency main depot in Northern Province have been soaked.

During a check at the FRA depot yesterday, the 50 kilogramme bags of maize, which were covered in tents, were soaked outside the sheds and some maize had even started geminating. Some of the bags with rotten maize had been disposed of in a nearby rubbish pit.

The workers were found loading some bags of maize onto trucks as others separated the wet bags from the dry ones.

One of the workers, who sought anonymity, said the maize had not been properly kept, yet there was enough space in the warehouse.

“There was an oversight on the part of warehouse managers because instead of putting logs on the ground, they only spread tents and then stacked bags of maize; meaning that if the ground is flooded, bags could easily be submerged in water,” the source said.

The worker said maize was also likely to be soaked in Mpika, Chinsali and other districts where farmers’ associations were managing warehouses in the province.

When contacted for comment, FRA public relations officer Mwamba Siame regretted the incident.

“The Food Reserve Agency has received reports that there is soaked maize in Kasama with regret as the Agency has re-enforced its strategies to ensure that the stock is covered by increasing the workforce in some locations that are working on covering the stacks and loading maize en route to safe storage,” Siame said.

She said the maize was on the stack outside Kasama main shed because it was filled to capacity.

Siame said of the 127,000 bags of maize on the said stack, only 700 bags at the bottom were affected.

“The bottom layer of the stack was affected after heavy rains,” she said.

Siame said the workers were now sorting out the problem and about 480 bags would be salvaged.

“The remaining 126,300 X 50kg bags which was not soaked has been moved to safer storage,” said Siame.

Labels: FRA, KASAMA, MAIZE

posted by MrK @ 6:51 AM