Agriculture Minister Wilbur Simuusa has announced the long awaited maize floor price for the 2014/2015 maize marketing season which has been pegged at K70.00 for a 50 kg bag.
Mr. Simuusa announced in a ministerial statement in Parliament this morning that the Food Reserve Agency will commence buying maize from farmers on 1st July 2014 in areas where the moisture content has reached the stipulated standard of 12.5%.Mr Simuusa named the areas as Southern, Luapula, Lusaka, Eastern and Northern provinces.
He has since encouraged the private sector to buy maize for their operations from farmers as the Food Reserve Agency will only be restricted to purchase maize for the strategic reserves.
Mr.Simuusa said the Food Reserve Agency (FRA) will this marketing season buy maize and Paddy Rice in remote areas across the country where the private sector will most likely not venture.
Mr Simuusa said the FRA will purchase 500,000 metric tonnes of maize and 2,100 mteric tonnes of Paddy rice.
Mr. Simuusa also told Parliament that over 20 thousand metric tonnes of D Compound fertilizer has already been delivered to all the ten provinces of Zambia.
He further announced that carryover stock of over 18,000 metric tonnes of urea fertilizer has been moved to designated districts in readiness for distribution to farmers while the procurement of the balance has reached an advanced stage.
He added that the same number of satellite depots which stood at 115 used in the previous marketing season will be maintained.
Mr Simuusa has also stated that farmers will be paid promptly this marketing season, and that farmers will continue to receive payment through appointed financial institutions in various locations.
He added that besides the arrangements made for payment of farmers and designation of satellite depots, more than 50% of empty grain bags and other marketing requisites are already in place.
And Mr Simuusa said it is envisaged that all farming inputs for the 2014/2015 would have reached farmers across the country by end of August 2014.
He said government is determined to address the perennial cry of late delivery of farming inputs by ensuring that all inputs reach farmers on time.
Mr Simuusa said government has targeted to increase to the small scale farmers under the Farmer Input Support Programme (FISP) from 900,000 to 1,000,000 million beneficiaries.
Now this is good news.I like the price.At least the farmers will make a good profit considering that seed,equipment,fuel and fertilizer costs had risen up.It is only fair that they must make a good profit.Keep it up !!!
The increase is not very substantial though especially considering that it was 65,000 last season.They should have pushed it to k80,000.A 5000 increase is not good enough.
@Soluosi
wow! great as you say,,,,,,,,,,,, consumers are yet in for a shock increase of mealie meal prices,,, donchi kubeba!! are the `likes` still increasing per second on president katongo`s faceook?,,,,
my brother soluosi,,,, pray or for your president,,, have seen his latest image on Zambia reports… the man in not well things are bad,,,, nowonder kabimba is campagning!! PF will now terribly miss GBM
@ndobo
The likes are increasing unlike your Mapatizya man.Yeah man i saw the image on mwebantu.It is kind of scary if that picture is worth a thousand words.I`m actually praying and fasting right now instead of my usual Friday heineken just incase things are not okay with my lovely cobra.Maybe it is just old age combined with the stress that comes with the job.
@ndobo
you have also seen it from yesterday’s news cast. ,I could see the ‘owl’ lingering on the side. bringing a definite message to those that are wise to read between lines. it explains why political leaders are crisscrossing the country. but pf is only allowing kambiba and kambwiliu to ……..
Drink mazoe na ma buns or sweet potatoes sometimes not cornmeal all the time
@Saulosi @ndobo
The President is not ok. That picture does not inspire any confidence at all. He looks like a man who might not make it three months from now considering the fact that he has access to first class health care as a president . They can fly in specialists from anywhere in the world to come and look at him.
If that picture was for a villager I would have had some hope that maybe when he gets proper medical attention he would recover from that bad state.
For now ubumi nabu shupa ku state house.
Its too early to celebrate because many farmers are now very wise. They will only release part of the maize now to pay for immediate needs and wait to see how quick the government will pay them for the batch.
They no longer trust FRA under PF any more and as such they will exercise extreme caution when selling their maize.
Well done HH for telling these PF minions to announce the Maize floor prize.
UPND and HH lead PF and its minions follow.
Viva UPND and HH.
@ZAMBIANO, DO YOU KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT INFLATION? IT IS NOT JUST A MATTER OF INCREASING THE MAIZE FLOOR PRICES BUT ALSO STRIKING A BALANCE WHEREBY INFLATION IS NOT ENCOURAGED TO BE OUT CONTROL. DON’T GET USED TO 100% PLUS PROFITS. PROFITS IN NORMAL ECONOMIES ARE JUST BETWEEN 1O TO PERCENT BY BUSINESSES. ABOVE THAT TO ANYTHING IS DAY LIGHT ROBBERY ON CONSUMERS. SO, AT LEAST THERE’S AN INCREASE OF THE MAIZE FLOOR PRICE FOR WHICH MOST OF THE FARMING INPUTS TO REMOTE AND POOR FARMERS ARE HANDOUTS.
That’s just an increase of £0.48p – yes 48pence per 50kg bag of corn! Do I read right from fellow bloggers? If that’s the case, then that cannot even buy a small pack of chewing gum let alone a pint of milk here! Agony is being an African farmer producing maize as your main cash crop in Africa. Try diversifying into other agricultural products such as tobacco, cashew nuts, exotic vegetables and peppers for export to western markets. I am always proud when I find Zambian peppers and hot chillies in some of our local supermarkets over here. A 50g bag of fresh chillies at my local corner shop costs £0.89p then contrast that with the 50kg of maize with all the labour intensity on the latter doesn’t make much sense to me. Eat salads, lean chicken, eggs, veggies and avoid too much starch…
this is too little the price should have been at least k75
Mmmm this sounds good. If this can come to pass then PF will be doing a great job. K5 increase in maize price is on the lower side. Could have been better if the price was increased by K10 or so per bag.
Good move. Problem with early input delivery is some farmers start repacking and selling. Come planting time they have no inputs.
Spot on ! I have seen that happen.
Yes,it is good for the farmers.farming inputs and management is costly but it is bad for me who will not afford to buy a 25kg bag of ubunga at k100 in the next 2 months. I work hard every day in order for my family to have 3meals a day bat nshikwanisha pantu indalama fonla shinono.
Epakufwaya job imbi naimwe bakamba.Nimwebo bamalonda ?
That’s the way forward BA pf.
When are we going to start implementing policies that encourage diversification of our diet….time to move on…it is suicidal having to depend on maize at such hideous prices.
Wake up people! !
Who stops you to crop diversify?
This Simusa seems to b the only working Minister. Imagine farming inputs reaching farmers by Aug/Sept. I am so Happy I wish I was a Tonga like this Simusa……anyway they are Farmers by blood.
God will deliver Zambia.
@ andalason please try to keep such unnessarry tribalistic appreciations to your self,the Hon simussa is a hard working Zambian praise him only from that platform.Shem on you.
@andalason keep tribal sentiments to your self,the Hon minister simussa is a hardworking Zambian praise him at that platform.Desist from tribal blogging like your friend Ndobo…..
@Chinyama.
Wht I am saying is tht Simusa is hard working. We need such Think Tanks for the Govt to flourish.
Not these useless Kambwilis and Wynters who r busy swindling people.
@andalason,thanks for the correction,anything tribal should be discouraged by all well meaning Zambians,while we all continue to express ourselves freely lets uphold one Zed one nation.
Interesting ati Moisture content is not good in some parts of the country… so what made the maze dry up faster in some parts and not others? Boza chabe…
Its the time when the rains stopped.The rain pattern in Zambia is not even.This is simple logic.Go back to school.
@Koko so now look again at the provinces mentioned and see if your reasoning (since you have been to school) makes sense… Lusaka as compared to Central for example !!!! Boza chabe, just say you don’t have enough money to buy from everywhere you fools !!!
Iwe kapala it is the humidity levels that determine the rate it which the maize loses the moisture content.Naubulisha isukulu iwe.
Sata is a man of action indeed. With timely delivery of farming in puts and good roads, expect more good things to come.
Man of Action who is hardly seen in public …really laughable indeed!!
we should all wish him a quick recovery instead of making fun of him.State funerals are very expensive bo simata?
Am surprised that since the PF came into power maize moisture content has also changed timings. It used to end by may but under PF it has to go upto jully so that farmers will not have enough time to wait to sell to FRA. Floor price has been on 65 fo many years therefore an increase by K5 when cost of living has dooubled is an insult to farmers.
@johaan govt is tryg to encourage private entreprenuers and millers to take lead in the maize marketing because FRA was losing alot of money thru organised thiefts.moisture and ability to handle purchases determins when crop marketing commences.Most warehouses are still full with last year”s stock and the FRA is trying to find ways of securing storage space while trying to source for funds to ensure prompt payments to supplying farmers to avoid anybody making noise politically…..
insult to farmers indeed can any farmer be happy by this useless announcement mwe bantu others like those in new areas which recorded bumper harvest for the first time will be greatly disappointed can you raise price to 75 or 80kwacha for the sake of the farmers
@bullblack your sentiments are nt real the govt will pag buying price also considering the selling price to millers should be economical to avoid a huge increase in mealie meal prices,and there are also alot of things involved like storag, transportation and supervision costs,the 70 per 50 kg is fair considering the Govt should concentrate on capital projects unlike subsidising consumption like in the past.
@blackbull:
When arguing some of these issues it is important that you use your head than something else! What does FLOOR PRICE mean to you and to all others who are simply “ku bwata, bwata” for nothing?
If you don’t understand this SIMPLE economic concept, open your ears and listen. FlOOR PRICE simply means that NO BAG OF 50KG MAIZE CAN OFFICIALLY BE SOLD BY ANY FARMER BELOW THIS PRICE! This is meant as a safety-net to farmers so that they don’t get cheated by unscrupulous BRIEF CASE maize traders. But this does NOT prevent any farmer from selling their maize at a higher price if the there are people in the private market willing to pay a higher premium. But Govt will only pay the set price. Do you want K120/50kg bag of maize? And what do you think meli meal will cost then?
increasing the floor price is not doing any good to the economy, all we need as a nation is work out means to produce maize very very cheaply and keep prices of its products as low as possible. we just have to treat this a nation heritage and available to all. no one is willing to be eating amale as a substitute for ubwali.its not like we are desperate, we have just made things worse…period.