The Food Reserve Agency-FRA has announced that it will be buying a 50kg bag of maize at K160 for the 2022 crop-marketing season, which is an increment of only K10 from last year.
FRA Board Chairperson Kelvin Hambwezya said the agency has pegged the buying price for a 50kg bag of soya beans at K550, an increase of K50 from last year’s K500 and has maintained the price of a 40 kg bag of paddy rice at K200.
Speaking during a media briefing monitored by the Zambian Business Times-ZBT, Hambwezya explained that the agency intends to purchase at least 170, 000 metric tons of maize, 1, 500 metric tons of soya beans and 1, 000 metric tons of rice.
Hambwezya noted that FRA undertook a process of crop price scenario analysis and consulted with some key stakeholders in the agriculture value chain adding that the stimulus in price will enable farmers to adequately prepare for the upcoming agricultural season and further be motivated to increase crop production and productivity.
The Board Chairperson mentioned that FRA purchased 947, 777.55 metric tons of maize valued at K2.8 billion, 121.60 metric tons of soya beans valued at K1.2 million and 656.80 metric tons of rice valued at K3.2 million in the 2021 crop marketing season.
