Amb. Emmanuel Mwamba writes:
The Truth About The Delay to Commence FRA Crop Marketing Season
During his rally in Chasefu in Eastern Province, President Hakainde Hichilema announced that the Food Reserve Agency (FRA) would soon announce the floor price of maize and other crops and commence the crop marketing season as the moisture content had been achieved for crop storage purposes.
FRA Board Chairperson Suresh Desai, held a press conference and dismissed the assertions that the moisture content had reached acceptable levels.
He stated that the moisture content was infact extremely high as the crop survey revealed that it stood at between 13.5% and 18.5% instead of the below 12% allowed for safe storage.
He stated that for this reason the crop marketing season will be delayed further.
The truth has nothing to do with the above.
FRA has no money to commence the crop marketing season. FRA is owed over K2.4billion (about $440million) by the Zambia National Service(ZNS) and its cheap mealie meal schemes that has been running since 2024.
Further efforts to dismantle this debt has not yielded any hopeful results and a further request from the Treasury jas not helped.
FRA is now engaged in desperate attempt to sell the maize in its storage to mealers and for exports
It’s imperative that ZNS, FRA and Government disclose the actual reason why the farmer cannot sell his or maize than the stpry of moisture content being bandied around.
