Mon, 10 Apr 2017 06:07:15 +0000
By BENNIE MUNDANDO
GOVERNMNET must allow for the exportation of maize to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) where grain traders and farmers have found market to get rid of old stock and trigger purchase appetite for the new crop, the Zambia National Farmers’ Union (ZNFU) has said.
ZNFU president Jervis Zimba told the Daily Nation yesterday that the union was grateful to the government for allowing a total of 40,000 metric tonnes of maize to be export by grain traders.
He said however that the decision by government to only allow the exportation of mealie meal to DR Congo was not helping farmers and the grain traders but only millers.
Mr. Zimba said it was surprising that while countries like South Africa were exporting maize to the DRC, Lusaka was blocking grain traders from selling their commodity to that country leaving only millers to participate in the market.
He said it did not make any economic sense that some buyers from DRC who were willing to buy the commodity from Zambia were blocked from doing so by insisting that only mealie meal should be exported.
He said with a 10 percent surcharge that exporters were incurring, it would make it difficult for Zambian traders to sell maize to other far-flung countries such as Kenya and Tanzania as they would be making losses.
“We have market in DRC but our government is saying that only mealie meal should be exported to that country and not maize but where does the Ministry of Agriculture expect grain traders to sell their stocks to?,
“We appreciate the fact that farmers have been allowed to export 40,000 metric tonnes of maize but it does not make any economic sense to expect Zambians to export maize to far-flung countries such as Kenya and Tanzania especially with the 10 percent surcharge they would be subjected to,” Mr. Zimba said.
He said inconsistencies in policy direction in the agriculture sector would create a crisis that government will fail to deal with because it was paying too much attention to people that were in business at the expense of
farmers.
“In whatever we do, our prime focus should be on the poor farmer and not people who are there to mislead government to make a fortune out of dubious deals,
“Blocking maize exports to the DRC and allowing only mealie meal to go into that country means that millers will benefit while the farmers are left out in the cold.
He appealed to government to rescind its decision to block the export of maize to the DRC and remove the 10 percent surcharge on maize exports.
