• Government through FRA has given farmers across the country a raw deal.
• The farmers have been told that FRA will no longer buy their maize.
• President Hichilema must compel FRA to buy the maize for export purposes.

Kanchibiya Member of Parliament has called on President Hakainde Hichilema to intervene in the plight of thousands of small scale farmers across the country whose maize has not yet been bought by Food Reserve Agency (FRA).
Sunday Chanda said government through FRA has given the farmers a raw deal as they wait for the Agency to buy their crop which is going to waste.
Mr. Chanda stated that Small Scale farmers in his Constituency and other parts of the country took their maize to satellite depots about two months ago, when the FRA was experiencing a shortage of empty grain bags countrywide but they have been told that the Agency will no longer buy their maize.
He further said the farmers spent money to buy their own empty grain bags and to transport the maize to FRA depots.
“Mr President, the farmers, your fellow farmers have been waiting to sell their maize all this long, and the bags in which the maize is packaged have been burnt by the heat from the sun, this maize is already going to waste.”
“Today, the farmers have been told that FRA will no longer buy their maize. What crime have they committed? Is this fair? Why didn’t FRA tell farmers not to take the maize to the depots in the first place? Why are they being told now after they have been made to wait for more than two months and after they have already spent money on transport, after sleeping in the open cold for more than 40 days? Where does government expect these farmers to get money to buy new grain bags to repack the produce since the old ones have been damaged by the sun at FRA depots across the country?” Mr. Chanda wondered.
Mr. Chanda also noted that with the onset of the rainy season, farmers have no storage facilities and are now being exploited by briefcase businessmen offering prices as low as K1.50 ngwee per kilogram, and others as low as K1 per kilogram, a situation he says requires President Hichilema’s direct response.
He appealed to the Head of State to intervene by compelling FRA to buy the maize for export purposes as a way of helping the farmers.
“Mr President let no one lie to you, this is a very serious problem which requires your direct response. Failure by government to intervene will represent the highest form of cruelty by the state against the farmers,” he stated.
Meanwhile, Mr. Chanda said government’s delay to flag off the distribution of farming inputs to farmers due to an audit taking place in the Ministry of Agriculture is unacceptable.
“You cannot delay the distribution of agriculture inputs on the pretext of an audit. These are buying-time tendencies. They should just say they were not ready. Stop hiding in the so-called audit,” Mr Chanda said.
Recently, Government informed the nation that FRA will continue buying maize up to the end of the crop marketing season on 31st October, 2021 and that FRA would buy 800,000 tonnes and not 500, 000 metric tonnes as earlier planned.