Kapiri Mposhi, 14 June 2013, ZANIS—Some small scale farmers in Kapiri Mposhi district in the central province are selling a 50 kilo gram bag of maize at twenty-four kwacha rebased.
A random check by ZANIS in Mukonchi and Chipepo areas revealed that some farmers were selling the grain to briefcase businessmen who have flooded the district.
And government says it is very concerned that some small scale farmers in the district were selling their maize at a giveaway price.
District commissioner Beatrice Sikazwe has urged the farmers to sell their maize at the recommended government price of KR65 per 50 kilo gram bag .
Ms. Sikazwe has also implored private buyers of maize other than the FRA not to exploit the farmers.
The DC noted that government was spending huge sums of money to subsidize farming inputs and it will not suffice for small scale farmers to sell their grain at cheap and uneconomic prices.
Ms. Sikazwe advised small scale farmers in the district not to fall prey to briefcase businessmen who are buying maize at a cheap and un-recommended floor price.
The DC assured farmers that government will this year allocate enough funds to provide a market and buy their maize at the recommended price of KR65.00 per 50 kg bag.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Agriculture in Kapiri Mposhi district has registered over 68,000 small scale farmers to benefit from the newly introduced Electronic Voucher (E-voucher) system of input distribution.
District Agriculture Coordinator, Benny Tembo, told ZANIS that the district has updated the farmers register and was ready to implement the E-voucher system of input distribution this year.
Mr. Tembo said the E-voucher system is aimed at ensuring efficiency in the delivery of farming inputs to the intended farmers on time.
Kapiri Mposhi district is among the ten districts in the country were the E-voucher system of input distribution will be piloted starting this year.
ZANIS
NowI do not understand this ! The govt is busy convincing the poor people (including smallscale farmers) to accept the removal of subsidies, yet briefcase businessmen are going around reaping the same farmers!!!!!???? Manje ba kapokola bali kuti?
This is a clear sign that the govt is NOT in control of things and that market forces are not working!! Phew, may God Save Zambia from such mediocracy!
@Umfundisi, Now I don’t understand you.
Mukonshi farmers had bumper harvest, over-over stock. They don’t even want to sell to government who will sell too expensive to consumers. They want to sell cheap to some brokers who will resell cheaper than the PF.
What is your solution to this. If you were in govt what would you do in this instance?
@umfundisi
The economics you studied or you know, won`t work on this one!! thats why africa remains where it is today…
you need some special economics or special mathematics which has some ubufi, cultural, emotional, and maybe religional attachments to understand this one…
SO WHY BLAME TUMBUKA’S WHEN THEY SELL THEIR MAIZE IN MALAWI
Its their corn, whats your problem? If they want they can even throw it away!
Give away or feed animals, not THROW away naimwe sweetie.
Ati naimwe sweetie…You gays right?
@Yike
but zoona na dabwa naine…aaaa@nostradamus ati ´naimwe sweetie` since when? hahahahaha but anyway who am i to judge people ..love chikondi can change people
with the current grain marketing polices,this problem will not end,poor farmers dont want to sell but its the need for some urgent cash that forces them to give away,it is sad,,the solution is, the Governmnent should start buying the maize now and pay not later than two weeks or else they should not talk about the brief case buyers again.
I don’t understand this government. Some one selling cheaply ati walufyanya…matabo yabo bane
I was under impression that maize is at a premium in Zed, but why are these guys stealing this precious commodity from themselves?
The farmers are broke and need money for their livelihood. With govts removal of subsidies, life in zambia at the moment is expensive so you cant blame them for selling maize cheap. They ll do what they have to to survive. And they know that if they sell to FRA it will take up to 6 months for them to be paid for their own grain. That is why a little bit of wisdom is needed when you running a country.
They are probably selling out of a desperate need for cash. Also from history they know that to get K65 per 50kg bag they have to sell to FRA and wait for payment. So a bird in hand is worth more than two out there. What I fail to understand is why successive Governments have found it convenient to set the maize price at K65, when input prices have constantly been on the rise. Not every small scale farmer benefits from the FISP for Government to justify a K65 price for the last five years or so.
But the minister announced that the marking started on 2nd June 2013.
Where is FRA now to allow such exploitation of our small scale farmers.
Was even the trips of ministers trotting around the country budgeted for?
This is the money we supposed to buy maize from Farmers.
@ Mulaisho: If I were in govt, I would put in place the following:
1. Remove the middlemen by making information on prices become available to all market players at the same time.
2. Improve efficiency at FRA and make sure that FRA purchases the minimum quantity to refill our national strategy reserves and that FRA must be indicating (on a daily basis) the minimum price.
3. Encourage farmers to consider export markets and this means govt removing export controls.
@Ndobo: Economics is the same everywhere. The issue is: should economics be for the people OR the people for the economics? Zambia should find its own answer to this question.
Good ideas but may not solve the current problems. For example,
1. The low prices being accepted are more a function of urgent need for liquidity rather than information asymmetry.
2. FRA’s many problem is sourcing of funding for annual crop purchase. The problem is that one bank (which most of us know) wants to monopolise (except in RB’s time) the funding and so interfere with the bidding process. Even funding on a syndicate basis is usually sabotaged by courting plot 1. I speak from experience of having worked on previous funding transactions for FRA. Also at the moment there is no floor price set and even if it was set peasant farmers prefer to have their cash earlier.
3. Most peasant farmers have no capacity to export profitably.
POBO!!!!! Kapiri here I come
@Drive,
Excellent views in contrast to my points. I am of the opinion that identifying the problem is half-way solving the problem. If you have identified reasons why straight-forward solutions do not work, ask yourself why? Since you wrote that you have interacted with FRA, then I am sure you know the answers. Why don’t you come up and implement what you know is workable?