FRA starts buying maize in Mufumbwe

Government has started buying maize for the 2014/2015 marketing season in Mufumbwe district of North Western Province.

 

District Agricultural Coordinator (DACO), John Phiri, says the Food Reserve Agency (FRA) is expected to purchase 119,000×50 kg bags of maize from farmers in Mufumbwe.

 

Mr Phiri told ZANIS in an interview that the FRA has so far bought more than 50, 000 bags of maize from farmers across 15 depots in the district.

Mr Phiri affirmed that the FRA has since started paying out money to thefarmers who have sold their maize to the agency.

 

“We have received K571,000 to begin paying out farmers who have sold their maize to the FRA,” he said.

 

And Mr Phiri said Mufumbwe has started receiving inputs for the 2014/2015 farming season.

 

Meanwhile, District Cooperatives Union (DCU) chairperson, Luka Lunkuka, has commended government for paying farmers within 14 days of purchasing the maize.

 

Mr Lunkuka has since called on government to increase the number of satellite depots in the district from the current 15 to about 20.

 

He said this would help speed up the maize buying exercise in Mufumbwe and reduce the transport cost for the farmers.

 

“Farmers have to move between 15km to 20km between depots which is not good because transporters are charging farmers a lot to just bring the maize to the depots,” he said.