• FRA will be buying a 50 kilogram bag of white maize at K280 and a 40kg of bag paddy Rice at K200
• The agency expects to purchase maize to meet the minimum statutory strategic grain reserve threshold of 500,000 metric tons
• The agency will not buy soya beans during 23 marketing season

Food Reserve Agency (FRA) says it will be buying a 50 kilogram bag of white maize at K280 and a 40 kg of bag paddy Rice at k200 during the 2023 marketing season.

Speaking during the FRA 2023 crop Marketing season briefing, FRA Board chairperson Kevin Hambwezya said the agency expects to purchase maize to meet the minimum statutory strategic grain reserve threshold of 500,000 metric tons and 1,000 metric tonnes of paddy Rice.

Mr. Hambwezya stated that the agency is offering very competitive prices to farmers during this year’s marketing season in order for farmers to benefit.

“Millers are therefore encouraged to buy sufficient stocks of their own from farmers to sustain their milling businesses as the Agency may not offload maize from the 9 strategic grain reserves which ideally are meant for national emergencies as prescribed in the FRA act. As such in future sales programmes FRA will only work with millers that make verifiable effort to buy their own stocks,” he said.

And Mr. Hambwezya disclosed that the agency will only buy two crop commodities which is paddy rice and white maize and not soybeans because it has enough stock of soybeans in reserves.

“During the 2022 season, Agency had a carryover stock of 652,000 metric tonnes of grade a white maize at the beginning of 2023 and over 400,000 metric tonnes has since been sold to local millers. The agency has 248,772.35 metric tonnes of maize in the national strategic food reserves,” he stated.
He revealed that during this year’s crop marketing season, the agency will operate a total of 1,200 satellite depots to provide market access to small scale farmers.
“This employment opportunity will result in the engagement of 4,800 seasonal buyers and security guards drawn from the local communities who are mainly youths and women and over 10,000 jobs for various activities associated to the agency’s area of operation. This opportunity will lead to the stimulation of rural economies and help in spurring development in rural areas. I wish to urge the people that have been recruited to work in the depots countrywide to be professional and diligent in their execution of duties,” he added.

He said this exercise is of national importance, therefore, workers need to be of high integrity as this programme is continuously audited by external auditors to ensure that public resources are utilized prudently.

Meanwhile, Mr. Hambyezya urged farmers to insure that they stock enough maize for consumption before selling to the agency.