FARMERS BETRAYED

GOVERNMENT must ensure that farmers are well rewarded for their hard work through attractive prices so as to act as an incentive.

This is the more reason why we feel the government is doing the farmers a disservice by not speaking out for them.

It has an obligation to ensure that farmers are offered an attractive price so as to spur increased production and ensure food security.

It must not hide behind the façade that the country has a liberalised economy and therefore the government has no say in what the price of maize is on the open market.

The government does have a say in setting a bench mark for the price of maize through the Food Reserve Agency (FRA).

The FRA each year announces the price at which it will buy the maize crop from farmers which acts as a minimum benchmark for the market.

Of course farmers are free to sell at a much higher figure than that prescribed by the FRA if indeed they could find a buyer to do so. Common sense however entails this does not happen.

The FRA just announced that it would be buying a 50kg bag of white maize from the farmers during this year’s mar keting season at K160, an increase of only K10 from the 2020/21 price which was K150.

This figure has sent shock and disbelief in the agricul ture circles. Farmers are clearly not happy with the price, saying it does not take into account the costs of production.

Milenge Member of Parliament Chonde Saka has de scribed the K160 floor price for a 50kg bag of maize being offered by the FRA as a mockery to farmers.

Mr Saka said the K10 increment was a slap in the face of farmers as it won’t have any impact due to the high cost of production compounded with the recent hike in transport costs.

And Chief Cooma says FRA should reconsider the maize floor price for this year’s marketing season to reflect the high cost of production incurred by farmers.

Chief Cooma said while it’s appreciated that the gov ernment is trying to keep the price of mealie meal low by announcing a lower maize price, this should be done care fully so as not to push small-scale farmers out of maize production in preference for other cash crops.

It is important that Government listens to the points raised over the unattractive maize price which will likely discourage farmers from growing the crop.

The government must not remain aloof, that the FRA will sort out this. The FRA is an integral part of the government and there is no way that it would announce the floor price of maize without consulting the government.

Moreover, we find it strange that the government would back such a retrogressive step when the country’s estimat ed maize production has drastically fallen by about 914, 000 metric tonnes for the 2021/2022 farming season com pared to last year.

If there is less maize coming on the market, the more reason why farmers must be offered an attractive price.

We note that when presenting the 2021/2022 crop fore cast findings and food security status in Lusaka last month, Agriculture Minister Mutolo Phiri said “it is estimat ed the country will harvest 2, 706, 243 metric tonnes this year, a 25 percent reduction from 3, 620, 244 metric tonnes recorded in the 2020/2021 agriculture season.

The bottom line is that farmers deserve a better deal for what they have been offered, as the Milenge MP says, is a mockery.