Thu, 04 May 2017 12:09:07 +0000
By AARON CHIYANZO
ZAMBIA needs to immediately export about 800,000 metric tonnes of maize before the grain starts rotting and also to give room to the new harvest, Zambia National Farmers Union (ZNFU) president Jarvis Zimba has advised.
Mr Zimba said that Zambia had more than enough stocks of maize and that the maize now risked getting rotten if not disposed of quickly.
He said in an interview with Daily Nation that that the country needed to immediately dispose off about 800,000 MT to remain with enough to satisfying demand.
Mr Zimba however disclosed that Government had allowed farmers to export 100,000 MT but that the grain traders wanted the newly introduced 10 percent export surcharge to be done away with.
He charged that the 10 percent surcharge on export of maize should be removed so that Zambian maize prices could become competitive in the region.
Mr Zimba said that the union had already appealed to Government to remove the 10 percent surcharge and were still waiting for a response from Government.
“We have indicated that we have too much maize in the country at the moment and we need to export about 700,000 to 800,000 MT because it will now start rotting.
‘‘Government allowed us to export 100,000 MT but we first want that 10 percent export charge to be removed so that prices can become competitive in the region. We appealed to Government but are still waiting for response since Finance minister Felix Mutati was out of the country,” he said.
Mr Zimba reiterated that farmers were receiving very poor price offers for their maize because of the 10 percent extra charge on maize export.
He explained that the country first needed to get rid of over 200,000 MT and a further 500,000 MT later.
Mr Zimba pointed that even if the millers were exporting a small quantity of mealie meal, there was still need to export maize as well to avoid wastage.
He assured that the country would still remain food secure even after exporting the 800,000 tonnes of maize.
Meanwhile, Small Scale Farmers for Development Agency (SAFADA) director Boyd Moobwe also advised Government to allow the Food Reserve Agency (FRA) to export maize to needy areas across the country.
