Cassava growers in market SOS

Fri, 16 Feb 2018 13:30:50 +0000

By MAILESI BANDA

 FARMERS in Chitambo district of Central Province have appealed to Government to help them find a market for their cassava.

Edmond Sanikili, one of the affected farmers in the area fear farmers that the diversification agenda would fail if other crops such as cassava did not a ready market.

Speaking in an interview with the Daily Nation, Mr Sanikili said while most farmers in the area were being advised to embrace other crops and avoid growing too much maize, lack of a ready market was a major setback. “The district agriculture officer here has been telling us to grow other crops besides maize but we are facing challenges selling our cassava,” he said.Mr Sanikili said most farmers preferred growing maize because the Food Reserve Agency (FRA) and other grain traders were always available to buy.

He said Government should come up with a deliberate policy that should see farmers of other crops get a market just like those that grew maize.

He explained that cassava was a good crop since it did not require much water, adding that if the crop was embraced by more farmers there would be a reduction in the over dependency on rain-fed crop production.