Lusaka District Commissioner, Rosa Kayuni says the district through the Food Reserve Agency (FRA) has been assigned a purchase target of 2, 800 metric tons of grade A white maize, out of the provincial target of 20, 000 metric tons, during the 2025/2026 marketing season.
Ms Kayuni explained that this will be conducted through the satellite depots to be set up in the district.
She said this during the training of FRA depot clerks in Lusaka.
“I am aware that during this year’s crop marketing season, FRA will be buying non-genetically modified grade A white maize through satellite depots that will be set up countrywide. This exercise will result in restocking our national strategic food reserves which will ensure sustained national food security,” she said.
Ms Kayuni added that the crop marketing exercise acts as a buffer during critical times of national food emergencies such as drought.
The District Commissioner revealed that 8, 600 farmers have benefitted from the Food Security Pack (FSP), adding that the district anticipates a bumper harvest.
She attributed the expected bumper harvest to good agricultural policies put in place by the government.
Ms Kayuni said the training of the depot clerks demonstrates that the government does not only support farmers to produce but also provides them with a market for their crop.
She added that the district administration has been directed to enforce the bonding agreement between the government and Farmer Input Support Programme (FISP) beneficiaries, by ensuring that beneficiary farmers sell a minimum of 10 by 50 kilogramme bags of maize to the agency for each pack of the FISP received.
“All famers that will not adhere to this directive will be replaced on the next FISP beneficiary list,” she indicated.
FRA assistant legal counsel, Mzondi Mwanza, called on the participants to adhere to the laws and regulations that govern the crop marketing exercise.
He listed Food Reserve Act number 6 of 2020, Public Finance Management Act, and Public Procurement Act as some of the laws that govern the exercise.
Meanwhile, Indo Zambia Bank representative Aubrey Sakala and ZANACO head of digital lending, Kaliye Kawina, called on farmers in the district to take advantage of their institutions’ conducive banking environments.
