Zambia is poised to have a maize surplus this season but it is still unlikely that the food will reach many of the 58 percent of Zambians that are classified as extremely poor. The ministry of agriculture recently released a national food balance sheet showing that the country will have a surplus of 160,000 metric tonnes of maize during the 2006/07. In the 2005/06 season the output was 63 percent above the previous season and 54 percent above the five-year average.
Only a few years ago, such a surplus of Zambians’ main staple crop would have seemed an unreachable dream. Successive droughts had caused a food crisis in the eastern and southern parts of the country, the main maize producing areas.
People were forced to pick stunted maize cobs for immediate consumption. Daily meals dwindled to one, and the amount of food in each meal had to be reduced.
But production changed dramatically after President Levy Mwanawasa took over from Frederick Chiluba in 2001. Mwanawasa, a commercial farmer himself, prioritized agriculture. He re-introduced the agricultural subsidies which Chiluba had abolished in the 1990s.
He also promoted innovations like mixed farming and conservation farming. Mwanawasa rejected genetically modified (GM) maize and encouraged the growing of non-GM maize, resulting in bumper harvests for the past three consecutive years.
Of late, the country has been exporting maize to neighbouring countries like the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Angola, Malawi and Zimbabwe. This is a role reversal as Zimbabwe used to be the food basket for the region.
But while putting food in the mouths of neighbours, food supply in Zambia has remained tight. The prospect of food shortages and hunger has even been raised.
The yield has been good but there has been an alarming lack of marketing strategy and storage capacity which has choked the maize sector in Zambia.
The government in 1996 created the Food Reserve Agency (FRA), a statutory body with the mandate to purchase maize and other cereals for the national reserve. Its performance has been in question since then.
It seems that the 80,000 metric tonnes strategic stocks being held by the FRA currently will not be released on the market but carried over to the next marketing season.
Last year it was reported that farmers were waiting around at the FRA depot in Nakonde district in the northern part of the country. Frustrated farmers were unable to sell their harvests as the FRA had put the buying of maize on hold. No reason was given to them.
At the time, Nakonde district commissioner Henry Mukungule hinted that the problem was that the people who had been given the responsibility for purchasing maize from small-scale farmers flouted the guidelines.
‘‘Maize marketing is a major problem here. We were given money to buy maize from small-scale farmers. The purchasing was supposed to be done through co-operatives but the guidelines have not been followed,’’ he said.
Former agriculture minister Mundia Sikatana is on record as having accused unscrupulous FRA officials of frustrating maize marketing by buying the produce cheaply and re-selling it at the recommended floor price.
However, the FRA is not entirely to blame. Funding to the body from central government has been erratic which has meant that the FRA has not been able to buy all the maize being produced.
For instance, in 2004 the government announced that the FRA will only buy about six percent of the maize. ‘‘We would have loved to buy from each and every farmer, but this is not possible because the resources do not allow us,’’ then agriculture deputy minister Chance Kabaghe said.
This year, FRA public relations officer Mwamba Siame has promised that no maize will be allowed to go to waste as the agency will ensure that it buys and stores all the maize that has been produced.
However, on several occasions huge amounts of maize have gone to waste due to FRA storage facilities being attacked by weevils.
In Chadiza district in the east of the country the Zambia National Farmers Union reported last year that 43,000 kilograms of maize had gone to waste because the FRA could not fumigate the maize properly. This has been a problem in especially far-flung rural areas.
Despite these challenges, the price of maize has since March last year continued to fall as supply on the market increases. Not everybody has benefited equally, though, as urban consumers are yet to enjoy lower prices. Indeed, in the past few weeks the price of maize has continued to increase in towns and cities.
According to Mkushi Farmers’ Association chairperson Sally Greyvensteyn, the good agricultural policies of the government have benefited both the small-scale and commercial farmers. Mkushi is one of largest farming blocks in the country. Even the house of chiefs last year congratulated the Zambian government on its agricultural strategies.
IPSÂÂ
