SEAL MAIZE LOOPHOLES

NOW that the maize floor price has been set at K110 per 50kg bag, farmers must prepare to haul their gran to the Food Reserve Agency (FRA) instead of offloading it cheaply to marauding traders that have invaded some farming areas. The FRA offers a ready market at good prices while some traders creep into the farming areas when the moisture content is well above 12.5 percent and cash in on desperate farmers. “Briefcase” traders dangle cash in the face of desperate farmers at the time the FRA awaits the moisture content in the maize to reduce to an appropriate percentage. Some peasant farmers drift into hue and cry over the “delay” by FRA to buy their produce when in actual fact they are aware that the maize can only be procured when the moisture content reaches acceptable levels to guarantee proper storage. Year in year out, stories abound about peasant farmers selling their grain to exploitative traders when farming inputs are provided by Government at subsidised levels. Government spends colossal sums of money to provide inputs to peasant farmers under the Farmer Input Support Programme (FISP). The FISP is designed to increase production and empower peasant farmers, who are supposed to graduate from the facility after three years to a higher level to give chance to others. FISP’s other objectives are to increase private sector participation in the supply of agriculture inputs to small-scale farmers and also to contribute to increased household food security. Sadly, many farmers have been selling their produce to foreigners even before they could harvest. In Muchinga Province, Tanzanians and Malawians some weeks ago had a field day, buying the produce before harvest with prices pegged according to the size of the maize field. Of course, the offer was very much below the Government’s current floor price. How then could farmers increase household food security when the produce is being offloaded cheaply to foreigners? Additionally, many peasant farmers have been on this programme for close to 20 years, yet they complain the loudest about any delays. Some peasant farmers collude with unscrupulous elements and form fake cooperatives to fraudulently get Government subsidised inputs, which they later sell cheaply. This is a criminal act which denies deserving peasant farmers an opportunity to access Government inputs under FISP. Government’s intention is to ensure that the country has enough maize for FRA to buy while the balance gets on the open market for private sector players to mop up the grain. The Grain Traders Association of Zambia and the Millers Association of Zambia are reliable players that move onto the open market to buy the grain. Peasant farmers must thus plan appropriately from the planting up to the marketing season so that they do not fall victim to exploitative traders that worm their way onto the market before genuine players arrive. While Zambia has a free market economy, Government regulation cannot completely be shelved, particularly in trade relating to the staple food and other strategic products such as petroleum. Therefore, Government will need to seal all loopholes in the agriculture supply chain and ensure that the FISP programme is only accessed by deserving peasant farmers. At times, the country grapples with inflated mealie meal prices because maize is hauled across national borders. Maize is a strategic national resource which must be protected from marauding traders.