NOW GOV’T BANS MAIZE EXPORTS
AGRICULTURE Minister, Mtolo Phiri has announced that there will be no more exports of maize until the government has ascertained how much stock the country will have after the next harvest.
Mr. Phiri said the country currently had about 800, 000 metric tons of maize of which an excess of 300, 000 metric tonnes of maize was at the Food Reserve Agency (FRA) and 300, 000 metric tonnes was with millers and traders.
He said the government would have to look at the new stock of maize which would start coming in March from the early maize grown by the commercial farmers and from the rain fed crops in parts of the country which had received favourable rains.
“There is no need for people to panic because of the dry spell that the country is going through because it was expected as we all know this is an Elnino year where we expected flashfloods and drought in some parts,” Mr Phiri said.
Mr Phiri said Government had put up a call to commercial farmers to grow early maize under irrigation in October and that support was given to the farmers that was after they harvested wheat.
He also indicated that the early maize from the commercial farmers was earlier earmarked for export but the government would hold on to the commodity so that it can assess how much stocks would be raised from the rain fed crops.
Mr Phiri said Zambia was very lucky that it was not the whole country that was affected by the dry spell because Muchinga, Northern, parts of North-Western, Copperbelt and Luapula provinces had received a favourable amount of rains.
He said the remaining provinces, especially the southern part of the country were severely hit by dry spells and the maize had dried up.
Mr Phiri said the four provinces that were experiencing good rains were able to feed the entire 20 million Zambians but the country needed to be very careful with whatever was going to be produced.