KALUMBILA DC CAUTIONS FARMERS AGAINST SELLING MAIZE TO BRIEFCASE BUYERS

By Jackson Mapapayi                                                              Kalumbila District Commissioner Robinson Kalota has advised farmers not to sell their maize to briefcase buyers but rather to the Food Reserve Agency (FRA). Mr. Kalota said in an interview that farmers should know that FRA uses an exact scale of 50 kilogramme to buy maize unlike briefcase buyers who exploit them in measurements and other factors.  He said farmers should also realize that FRA buys maize to maintain food security in the country, and in case of hunger the Agency can sell back to the same farmers at low prices. “It is my humble appeal to all our farmers in the district not to be swayed to sale their maize to these briefcase buyers because they will be manipulated,” he said. He stated that farmers should be grateful to government for increasing the floor price for the commodity from K110 in last year’s crop marketing season to K150.  “This is the first of its kind in the history of the Zambian farmer because it is a  plus to our farmers,” he said. And Mr Kalota has also advised farmers not to rush in selling all their maize but keep enough for home consumption. The Food Reserve Agency (FRA) will this 2021 marketing season buy a 50 kilograms bag of white maize from farmers at K150 from K110 in the previous season while the same quantity of soya beans will fetch K500.