Mwinilunga acting District Commissioner Kelvin Ndandand has directed the Food Reserve Agency (FRA) in Mwinilunga district to increase the purchase of the grain in the district.
Mr Ndandanda said the daily purchase by the 200 bags satellite depots in the area is too low and hence directed it to buy a minimum of 300 bags daily.
He explains that this is to ensure that more maize is bought and to reduce on the time farmers spend at the depots. Mr Ndandanda made the directive after conducting a check on some depots yesterdays.
“We don’t want our farmers to stay long here,” he said.
Further, Mr Ndandanda advised the FRA to strike a balance in buying the maize to accommodate farmers with extra maize.
And a farmer in the area, Jackson Sakapalu thanked government for this year’s maize purchase price but requested that more satellite depots are established to reduce on the transportation cost. The agency has a target of buying 112,000 by 50 Kilogram bags of white maize across 26 satellite depots in the district.
Meanwhile Mr Ndandanda has commended government for the prompt payments to farmers who have supplied maize to the agency and for the over 300 temporal jobs created by the exercise.
Mr Ndandanda says K895,000 out of the initial K1.9 million deposit by government has since been paid out to the farmers.
“We are paying farmers on time and this exercise has equally created jobs for the youths,” Mr Ndandanda said.
He has applauded farmers in the area for choosing to sale their crop to FRA as opposed to briefcase buyers saying it is good for national food security. – ZANIS
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