ABOUT MAIZE FLOOR PRICE VERSUS MOISTURE CONTENT: WHAT IS THE CONNECTION?
By Sean Tembo – Roma Constituency Independent Aspiring MP & Brian Mundubile Presidential Campaign Team Member
1. The recent announcement by the Food Reserve Agency (FRA) that they will not announce the maize floor price because the moisture content is still too high, raises a lot of questions. To discuss this issue in great detail, we first need to have a common understanding of what the floor price of maize is, and what moisture content is.
2. Maize floor price is the price at which Government, through FRA, buys a 50kg bag of maize from the open market. Last year, it was K340. Government’s announcement of maize floor price for each year, is important, because it provides a guide to the private sector on what price they can offer to buy maize from farmers, and also provides a basis on which farmers can bargain the price at which they sell their maize to private sector buyers. Without a floor price, farmers have no basis for bargaining, and are often exploited. The last time I travelled to Lundazi, around the last week of May, this year, I saw posters along the road where buyers were advertising the purchase of maize at K1.50 per kg, or K75 per 50kg.
3. But, what is the moisture content? This is the amount of moisture in maize grain, and should ideally be less than 15 percent for short term storage (1-3 years) and less than 12 percent for longer term storage (more than 3 years). The moisture content in maize at harvest, depends on multiple factors such as whether the rains stopped late or early, whether the location in question is a valley or plateau etcetera. This year, the rains stopped early, around mid-March, across the country.
4. The million dollar question is; what is the connection between announcing the floor price of maize and its alleged high moisture content? The answer to that question is “none”. There is no connection. That is because the announcement of a floor price is not synonymous with the commencement of purchasing maize grain by the Government, through FRA. I remember quite vividly that previous administrations, under PF and MMD, typically used to announce the maize floor price around April, and only commence the purchase of maize around the end of June, of each year.
5. Government’s recent announcement, through FRA, that they are unable to announce the maize floor price, because moisture content is still too high, rings hollow for a number of reasons. Firstly, the moisture content for maize cannot be high at this time, when the rains stopped early this year. When you compare with last year, rains stopped around the first week of April, and yet FRA commenced the purchase of maize by the last week of June, without any issues about moisture content. This year, rains stopped around mid-March and yet, by mid-July, FRA claims that the maize still has high moisture content. Where did the moisture come from?
6. The other issue worth noting is that FRA’s excuse for not announcing the floor price for maize is contradicted by President Hakainde Hichilema’s statement on the issue, that he made when he was in Muchinga Province recently. According to the President, the delay in commencing the purchase of maize is because “… FRA is still putting modalities in place to ensure that farmers are paid within 2 to 3 days of supplying their maize to FRA…”. By “modalities”, I believe that the President is trying to say that his Government is still trying to look for money to pay farmers, so as to avoid last year’s embarrassing 7 months delay in paying farmers.
7. Suffice to mention that the President’s stated reasons for his Government not commencing the purchase of maize, sounds more plausible than FRA’s moisture content story. But still more, it does not explain the failure to announce the maize floor price. Announcement of maize floor price is not synonymous with commencement of purchasing maize. That means Government should have still proceeded to announce the maize floor price even if they are broke, and cannot immediately commence the purchase of maize from farmers.
8. Talking about Government “still putting in place modalities to pay farmers within 2 to 3 days of supplying their maize to FRA”, the President needs to explain to the Zambian people why there is no money to commence the purchase of maize, when this was budgeted for in the 2026 National Budget? Why is our “award-winning” Minister of Finance failing to implement a simple National Budget? And, while this inefficiency and incompetence is going on, our farmers are being exploited by briefcase buyers to sell their maize at K1.50 per kg.
9. What is more troubling about this whole situation is the lack of specificity by both FRA and President Hakainde Hichilema. FRA claimed that the moisture content is still too high, but they did not say what that moisture content is. Is it 16% or 17% or 18% or whatever percentage? Secondly, FRA did not state how long farmers will tentatively have to wait, before the alleged high moisture content reduces to the desired level. Similarly, President Hakainde Hichilema told us that his Government is “…still putting in place modalities to ensure that farmers are paid within 2 to 3 days of supplying their maize to FRA…” but he did not say how long it’ll take for those modalities to be put in place. This vagueness by both FRA and the President, has left farmers feeling helpless and hopeless.
10. I do not need to over-emphasize that more than 8 million of our citizens depend on peasant farming as their primary source of income. This income comes in once per year. To produce their maize, our 8 million citizens toil heavily and have to overcome challenges including high fertilizer and seed prices, uncertain rainfall patterns etcetera. Therefore, when they finally produce their maize grain, it is only fair that the Government must treat them with dignity and due consideration. The current treatment of our 8 million peasant farmers, is far from fair. How can it be fair when our people are selling their maize at K75 per 50kg, out of desperation, while Government and even the President himself, continue to give vague excuses? I have no doubt in my mind that the people of Zambia deserve better quality leadership than what we currently have. We cannot continue with the current champions league of mediocrity. Let us liberate ourselves on 13th August 2026. Otherwise, posterity shall judge us harshly.
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SET 15.07.2026
