EXPAND FRA MANDATE BEYOND FOOD SECURITY

Tue, 07 Nov 2017 12:23:16 +0000

By Chite Mtonga

GOVERNMENT should give FRA a marketing mandate that goes beyond national food security to link farmers to markets both domestic and international to avoid wastage of excess maize not bought by FRA, civil society for poverty reduction executive director Patrick Nshindano has said.

Mr Nshindano said that Government should stretch the mandate of the FRA to include the sourcing of maize markets both locally and internationally.

He told the Daily Nation that the move would not only motivate farmers to grow the crop but also give them a better retain on their produce.

“The Agriculture market in Zambia has not grown to enable farmers to easily find markets for their maize in the private sector, especially small scale farmers who do not even have the capacity to move their crops from one point to the other and as a result will be seeing the excess maize not bought by FRA in their satellite depots going to waste.

“As an organization we appeal to government to consider extending the mandate of FRA, so that it can even look for market for our farmers to sale their produce since the agency can only purchase a certain amount,” Mr Nshindano said.

He said that sourcing of markets by FRA was particularly necessary for small scale farmers to increase agricultural production towards making agriculture the key economic driver for the nation.

Mr Nshindano added that marketing of crops should also go beyond maize in a bid to promote diversification. “We do not expect farmers to diversify in to other crops if there are no certain markets for their produce, so if an agency like FRA can source markets for maize and other crops as well, surely farmers will be encouraged to grow those crops,” he said.

Mr Nshindano concluded by saying that it was a challenge especially for small scale farmers in the remote arears of the country to sell their produce at a profit, as handbag businessmen took advantage of farmer’s desperation to exploit them and purchase their produce at very low prices.