MKUSHI FARMERS WANT HIGHER MAIZE FLOOR PRICE

SMALL-SCALE farmers in Mkushi have appealed to Government to increase the floor price for maize.

The farmers said it was prudent that Government realised the need to empower them if they have to improve their production.

One of the farmers, Robert Musonda, said government must consider the high cost of production which the farmers faced during the 2018/2019 farming season and adjust the sale price for maize.

Mr Musonda said in an interview yesterday, the price which Food Reserve Agency (FRA) was offering for a 50 kg bag this marketing season was better but insufficient to offset high costs of production incurred by the farmers.

He said farmers spent more during the 2018/2019 farming season due to the prolonged dry spell as most crops had dried forcing them to use more resources

to replant. “Most small-scale farmers in the area are pleased with the price and are willing to sell their maize to FRA,” he said. “Last year we sold our maize at K85 for a 50 kg bag, the increment is very pleasing and we cannot complain, said Mr Musonda.

But our wish is that the government should increase the price further to empower small-scale farmers. We spent a lot of money to grow the maize,” he said.

Mr Musonda said farmers’ livelihoods could only change if Government increased the sell price for maize.

He said it was necessary for Government to consider the challenges that the farmers were going through to enable them produce the commodity cost effectively.

“It has been learnt that FRA might fail to buy enough maize because farmers are selling their produce to millers and other private sector players at better prices,” he said.

Mr Musonda said, “It’s likely that FRA would not manage to buy enough reserves considering that farmers were opting to sell their produce to private sector buyers for as much as K150 and not FRA offering as low as K110.”

But Davies Mulenga, a farmer of Mushi’s Kawaba Riverside area said he was pleased with the K110 maize price being offered by the firm a 50 kg bag in the 2018/2019 marketing season.

“It is a better price as compared from the past,” he said.