President Edgar Lungu has called on millers in the country to invest in their own storage sheds and stop their dependency on the Food Reserve Agency- FRA to supply them with maize for their businesses.
The President has observed that millers have been leaning heavily on FRA to supply them with maize instead of getting in the fields and far flung areas to buy their own grain from farmers.
“Millers should stop relying on maize from government through FRA but instead should invest in their own storage facilities in strategic farming areas because in future, millers will find it very hard to purchase maize from FRA,” Lungu warned in April 2019.
The head of state said this when he was making an address during the National Field Day in Kapisha, Chief Mibenge’s area in Mansa.
And President Lungu had called on the Food Reserve Agency (FRA) to pay farmers competitive prices for their grain during the 2019 marketing period compared to K70 per 50 kilogram bag of maize that was being paid in the 2018 farming season.
The head of state has noted challenges delayed payments to farmers is costing them and has since called on FRA to pay farmers competitive prices and on time.
Lungu has also prodded the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Finance to work together and sort out what the perennial problems of delayed payments to farmers and suppliers of the inputs.
He said he would like to see inputs distributed before the onset of rains and has since urged the Ministry of Agriculture to conclude negotiations with inputs suppliers by May so that in turn inputs would be distributed on time.
“The country will not export mealie meal until it has ascertained that there is enough maize and mealie meal for the country, for that reason, excess grain will only be exported after harvest,” he added.
