By MILLENNIUM REPORTER
GOVERNMENT has ordered the Food Reserve Agency (FRA) to embark on buying soya beans from small scale farmers across the country.
Minister of Agriculture Reuben Mtolo Phiri has announced that government has instructed the FRA to buy soya beans from small scale farmer’s country wide.
Speaking when he officiated at the launch of the FRA 2023 crop marketing season, Mr Phiri said government had taken into consideration the production costs that small-scale farmers had suffered and would therefore buy the crop.
The announcement means that FRA would have to reverse its earlier decision in which it had announced that it was not going to buy soya beans.
Mr Phiri said the directive to FRA to buy soya beans was a government decision that could not be challenged by anyone as government had the interest of farmers at heart.
And FRA board chairperson Kelvin Hambwezya has disclosed that after several consultative meetings, the agency had decided to buy 100, 000 metric tonnes of soya beans country wide.
He stated that the FRA would buy one kilogram of soya beans at K6 which would translate to a buying price of K300 per 50kg bag of the crop and k6, 000 per metric ton.
GOVERNMENT INSTRUCTS FRA TO BUY SOYA BEANS
