opening of the first joint Pan-African Grain Legume and World Cowpea
Conference currently being held at AVANI Victoria Falls Hotel. Picture
by Jeffrey Oliver
Agriculture Minister Given Lubinda has announced that the Maize floor price for this year’s crop marketing season has been maintained at K 75 per 25 kilogramme bag.
Mr Lubinda announced in a ministerial statement in Parliament that the decision was arrived after wide consultations with farmers associations and the Grain Traders Association of Zambia.
Mr Lubinda also disclosed that Government through the Food Reserve Agency will buy up to 1 Million MT of Maize in the current crop marketing season.
He said out of that figure, 500,000 MT will go towards strategic national reserves while the remaining 500,000 will be for purposes of stabilising prices on the mealie meal on the local market.
Mr Lubinda said Government did not want to increase the producer prices for Maize as that would have triggered an increase in retail prices of mealie meal.
He said price of mealie meal would go to levels obtaining in neighbouring countries if the producer price is increased.
Mr Lubinda said Zambians are not ready to pay 40 dollars per 25Kg per bag as the people in the Congo or K 250 for a bag of mealie meal as in Malawi and Zimbabwe hence the need to pay the prices.
He said with the K 75 per 25 Kg bad, farmers especially small holder farmers would be adequately compensated for their efforts.
Is it per 25 kg or 50 kg bag?
Can only be 50 Kg it cant be 25 kg because no body packs maize in 25 kg bag to sell to FRA.
Its per 50 kg bag but can’t be per 25 kg reasons being no one packs in 25 kg bags and current price of breakfast mealie meal is ZMW 75.00 per 25kg bag. 25kg bag of maize can’t produce 25 kg bag of mealie meal, it can produce around 12.5 kg bag of breakfast mealie meal and the remaining half 12.5 kg is bye products of roller meal, sample, maize bran & foreign material.
There goes Pama ya farmer again.Pf should forget our vote as famers.
Pay the farmer on time and cement the rural vote!…
Lusaka times, is it 25kg or 50kg bag of maize?
This will enable Mr. Chikwanda to pay the farmers before 11/08. Otherwise if farmers do not get their money then kafwafwa!
By the way, where is HH and his team to offer some suggestions like…… Us in UPND we shall pay more because we appreciate the farmer. We shall give free education to all, we shall …. we shall…. we shall…and shall
What an insult to a farmer!
Ba PF forget the rural vote.
Punish Farmer (PF)
The price is unfair considering the prevailing cost of input plus higher inflation.
PF wailasha!
The price is cool
Eeee You Foolish Guys Don’t Lie We Are Not Like Your Kids To Cheat Us H H Wako Azitumfya Bcoz He Is Keeping Nutrition Cattle Which Needs Verterinary Treatment.We Don’t Want Triblism In Zambia Let 11th Augast Come You Will Sick Diarrhoer (Muzathulula) .
YOU MAKE NO SENSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Obviously this man is not PF or genuine Zambian & what Chilufya Tayali said has come to pass. The cost of inputs (seeds, fertilser, labour, transport for inputs & produce) is too high for ZMW 75.00 per 50 Kg bag to compensate for all these. How are the farmers going to meet their overheads, children’s school fees, high govt services fees, VAT, various taxes, toll fees, costs of living? Who is going to buy the remaining maize if not FRA which is given money by govt for that purpose? What is the quantity allocated for export and DRC has been singing about formal export of maize with FRA to stabilise & legalise trade but he has been playing a hide & seek game. The reality is that himself will buy at this cheap price of ZMW 75.00 per 50 Kg bag & export at double the price & Tayali will not…