Government says the food reserve agency ( FRA) has achieved and surpassed its target of buying five hundred thousand metric tonnes of maize in the shortest possible time.
Vice president Gut Scott says it was for this reason that the FRA will continue buying maize to ensure that no maize is wasted.
Dr Scott said a quarter of the farmers who sold maize to FRA have since been paid and that government will ensure that the next are paid before the commencement of the next farming season.
ZANIS reports that the vice president said this in Vubwi today after addressing a public meeting at Vumbi school ground where he had gone to drum up support for the PF candidate Margaret Miti in the forth coming Vubwi parliamentary by elections.
He has since directed Eastern Province minister Malozo Sichone to ensure that FRA buys maize in the district and that it does not get wasted or exported to neighboring countries.
The vice president urged the people of Vubwi to vote for the PF candidate in order to foster development in the area .
Dr Scott said government is in a hurry to bring development to the area which has been lacking for the last 50years.
And speaking on the same occasion, Eastern Province minister Malozo Sichone assured farmers that farming inputs for the 2014,2015 season will be distributed in September.
Mr Sichone said farmers will receive seeds, urea, and D-compound fertilizer at the same time in order to prepare for the farming season.
Please don’t trust a word these PF liars say .
This is a great new phenomenon of buying, where the seller is not paid. Please Mr Scott assist the farmers get their money, otherwise poverty will not end in this country. Congo and other countries are there for govt to sell all the maize produced locally. Yes, the govt may not make profit, but this is one way of wealth distribution and not the dishing out of cash during campaigns.
mr guy scott are you aware that since begging of these by elections farmers who sold their maize to fra have not been paid in many parts of zambiA And you are there cheating pi[po to vote for pf pay farmers and not just continue stock pile their maize without payment you pipo wake and vote for different parts of your choice instead of this useless paya farmer animal it was you will be paid in two weeks after is it still the same liars
A lot to ponder, FRA to buy all maize without both money & storage facilities? It is a shambles. Currently private buyers are doing better as they are buying at K55/ for 50kgs & exporting to Mozambique/ Malawi legally. It doesn’t need a rocket scientist to work out how government can sell maize locally or export. The farmer will forever remain poor because of the policy makers while the rich, who don’t know how to hold a hoe, enrich themselves with the farmers maize. God is watching!