Army now collecting maize in all 10 provinces – FRA

The Food Reserve Agency – FRA has confirmed that the exercise of speeding up the collection of maize by engagementment of the Zambia Army initiated by the Southern Province Minister has now been extended to all the ten (10) provinces of Zambia.

FRA has since assured the nation that no maize will go to waste this year. FRA disclosed that the exercise of moving maize from the satellite depots to main holding depots is still in progress in all the ten provinces of Zambia.

FRA Public Relations Officer John Chipandwe said the exercise is being carried out countrywide to make sure the maize is moved from the satellite depots in the bush to the main holding depots for long-term storage.

Speaking in an interview with the Zambian Business Times – ZBT, Chipandwe said the Army is simply moving maize from the furthest remote part into the main holding depots, which is, crop securing maize from being soaked countrywide.

Last month Southern Province Minister Cornelius Mweetwa initiated and flagged off maize transportation supported by the Zambia Army from satellite depots to main holding depots in Choma,mand explained that collection and transportation of maize from satellite depots was to be done by the Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit (DMMU), Defence Forces, Food Reserve Agency (FRA) and Southern Province Administration.

Mweetwa said this was in response to Vice President Mutale Nalumango’s directive to the provincial administration to quicken collection of the maize grain from depots in the province in order to secure the grain and prevent it from being damaged by rains.

The Food Reserve Agency - FRA has

Farmers wasted seed & fertilizer on planting early – Farmer Union

The National Union for Small Scale Farmers in Zambia – NUSFAZ has advised farmers who have already planted [and have no irrigation system] to replant their crops as soon as the Zambia Meteorological Department provides clearance.

The farmers union has noted that some farmers started planting at the onset of early rains, therefore chances are that they will have wasted their seed as well as the fertilizer that they had put together with their seed.

Union Executive Director Ebony Loloji explained that farmers should wait until the meteorological department guides that there would be enough rainfall, which will be consistent before they start replanting.

Loloji said replanting would enable the farmers to harvest something next year adding that farmers should replant medium or early maturing varieties so that the harvest is not affected since they will be planting later than they had anticipated.

Speaking in an interview with the Zambian Business Times – ZBT, Loloji noted that some farmers started planting at the onset of early rains therefore chances are that they will have wasted their seed as well as the fertilizer that they had put together with their seed.

It is not clear if affected farmers who are on Farmer Input Support Program which has a weather indexed insurance component will be compensated. Otherwise, most farmers capital positions are not strong to withstand this early loss.

“Already, we have been warned by the meteorological department that for the next 10 days, we are not going to receive meaningful rainfall, rainfall that is enough to put moisture into the soil which can support plant growth. That is the more reason that they have advised that if at all there is anything that they can plant, it is just cassava, not any other plant”, he said.

He emphasized that provided the farmers listen to the guidance of experts where going about a short season is concerned, the union believes that food security cannot be affected drastically by the dry spell that the country is currently experiencing.

Loloji has encouraged farmers to adopt methods of farming that will help them to conserve moisture noting that there is technology that can assist farmers in conserving moisture as well as focus on the use of early maturing hybrid.

He added that technology such as agro ecology where farmers work on things like conserving soil and moisture and the use of hybrid or seed varieties that mature early could help farmers get the desired harvest.

The met department is yet to give a longer term revised projection that can guide the farmers to plan their production. As things stand, fears are growing that climate change effects may lead to a drought which causes hunger and food insecurity for most citizens.

The National Union for Small Scale Farmers

NCZ delivers 80% of its allocated order to Southern Province

Nitrogen Chemicals of Zambia – NCZ has confirmed that it has delivered over 80% of the tonnage of fertilizer that the company is supplying to Southern Province and expect to conclude delivering in the both D-compound and Urea in next two weeks.

NCZ Marketing and Sales Manager Cleopatra Chanda also confirmed that NCZ only manufactures D-Compound while Urea is imported. She further disclosed that the company has utilized some of the money injected by IDC for working capital to produce and deliver the Southern Province fertilizer order.

When asked on what progress has been made on procuring a fertilizer blending plant which was financed in July 2021 by IDC, Chanda said the company has initiated and is in the process of procuring a blending plant which will make it possible for the company to blend fertilizer once the machine is in the country adding that the machine is likely to arrive early next year 2022.

In July this year 2021, the Industrial Development Corporation – IDC  injected a total of K684 million (about $31 million at the time)  into NCZ to enable the company acquire a modern blending plant as well as boost its production capacity.

IDC Group CEO Mateyo Kaluba at the time of investment stated that of the total amount invested, K638 million was for working capital support for the production of fertilizer to enable the company consistently supply the commodity to the market, while K45.6 million was to enable procurement of a modern fertilizer blending plant.

The NCZ marketing manager told ZBT that NCZ has so far delivered over 80% of the tonnage of fertilizer that the company is supplying in Southern Province. She said the company is delivering both D-Compound and Urea and is expected to finish distributing the fertilizer in the next one to two weeks.

Chanda mentioned that issuance of fertilizer to the farmers is currently going on in Southern Province and the distribution is going well noting that there are no challenges being experienced. See ZBT article on IDC $31million investment into Nitrogen Chemicals of Zambia – NCZ https://zambianbusinesstimes.com/k638m-investment-into-ncz-to-cut-need-for-imports/

Fertilizer imports continued to be one of the major foreign exchange drainers in the Zambian economy due to the big volumes ordered as well as bulk transportation costs. Analyst have however contented that local manufacturing of the commodity remains one of the viable routes for Zambia to take.

The late founding President of Zambia – Dr. Kenneth Kaunda’s government that got independence for Zambia realized that importing fertilizer was unsustainable and set up NCZ but successive governments after that from MMD, PF and now UPND have continued to opt to import. This is despite not availing the public any technical and financial report that support their decisions or policies to opt to import fertilizer than produce locally.

Nitrogen Chemicals of Zambia - NCZ has

Replanting due to delayed rains cause painful loses to farmers

The Small Scale Farmers Development Agency – SAFADA says about 15% of over 600, 000 rain dependent local farmers who have already planted their crops will have no option but to replant due to the dry spell currently being experienced across most parts of Zambia.

The dry spell that has continued into early December is causing anxiety among local farmers whose production is heavily dependent on rains and subsidized inputs from government. Most farmers ended up planting after a false start of rains which has now turned into a dry spell after planting had already been done.

SAFADA Executive Director Boyd Moobwe said government might need to assist the farmers who planted their crops as soon as the first rains came because the financial status of most local farmers who are the majority of the small-scale farmers cannot afford to replant.

Moobwe said the country had recorded bumper harvests for the past three seasons but now household food security is under threat as most farmers have sold everything harvested in the previous season, noting that, on a national level, government has assured the public that there are enough reserves.

Speaking in an interview with the Zambian Business Times-ZBT, Moobwe noted that there might be rains towards the end of this month as indicated by the metrology department but normally when farmers plant during the rainy season, they need to ensure they finish planting before January 15 therefore it is worrying that there is still no rain.

He said government should also assess how the continued dry spell will affect the country’s harvest next year in order to decide whether to continue exporting maize in the reserves or not because the weather pattern being currently experienced is not encouraging.

Moobwe has advised government to start planning what will happen in the next six months if the country does not have good maize yields.

“We had some rains the first week of November in some places like Chipata, Lundazi, Chibombo  and Central province, so farmers were ploughing and planting hoping that the rains had started but unfortunately things have changed”, he said.

He mentioned that there is need to provide technical and financial assistance to farmers adding that extension officers need to be on the ground advising farmers on various issues including the effects of climate change, but farmers are only getting most of the information from the media.

Moobwe said it is unfortunate that farmers are just being told to wait and not being provided with more information.

“You can still plant and calculate to say the rains will come in 14 days time and the crop will germinate but farmers are not being told this, instead they are being told to wait. For how long because the season is only for three months for a crop to grow and mature”, he lamented.

The Ministry of Agriculture has announced the sale of a further 450,000 tons of maize, additional to the initial 450,000. But fears are growing that if the rainfall situation does not improve, the country may end up with a deficit which will make the staple food unaffordable for the majority.

Minister of Agriculture Mtolo Phiri is yet to issue a comprehensive statement on the way forward regarding continued exports in relation to the current dry spell. Moreover, some maize stocks from the 2020/2021 Agro season in the other nine provinces remain uncollected as only the Southern Province Ministry seems to have mobilize the army to mobilize and collect from his assigned region.

The Small Scale Farmers Development Agency -

Cooking oil prices to go up by 41%

The price of cooking and other edible oils currently being imported under the suspended customs & excise duties as well as suspended or zero rating of value added tax – VAT temporal regime is projected to jump up by about 41% when the two taxes become applicable on 1st January 2022.

A check on the current retail prices reveals that the current market prices are based on imports and distribution of edible oils that are enjoying the temporarily suspended import duty on edible oils which is at 25% of the value of imported edible oils.

The current cooking oil market prices are also less another suspended Value Added Tax (VAT) of 16%, which therefore means that if the two Statutory Instrument (SI’s) that have been extended to 31st December 2022 which exempts importers from paying import duty and VAT expires, importers would have to pay a total of about 41% (25% + 16%) in additional taxes which will have to be passed on to the final consumers.

According to a check done by the Zambian Business Times – ZBT, the two SI’s 83 and 85 of 2021 will both expire on 31 December 2021 and if not extended, cooking oil prices may increase and consumers would have to bear the increase in landed costs.

And the Crushers and Edible Oil Refiners Association (CEDORA) has disclosed that prices of cooking oil are likely to go up between 16% to 41% if the temporal suspension on import duty and VAT is not extended beyond 31 December 2021.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with the Zambian Business Times – ZBT, CEDORA Director Aubrey Chibumba however said prices of locally manufactured cooking oil are likely to go up by a lower margin of between 20% to 25%.

“If my cooking oil costs $100, am supposed to pay $25 dollars as import duty, so it will go up between 16% and 41%, if you are importing packed refined oil, then yes it would go up by that 41% but for locally manufactured oil, it would go up probably around 20%-25%”, he said.

Chibumba confirmed that there was an extension after the initial SI that temporarily suspended import duty and VAT on edible oils expired at end of October this year, 2021. See earlier ZBT article on Suspended Import duty effect on cooking oil prices.

Driving local manufacturing of edible cooking oil remains one of the viable ways to cut the prices of the commodity but both Soya and Sunflower production remains below national consumption demand. See ZBT article on Sunflower production in Zambia

The price of cooking and other edible