Govt releases K20.5 million for Kasama farmers

Government has released K20.5 million for the purchase of maize from farmers in Kasama district for the current crop marketing season.

Kasama District Commissioner Kalanga Bwalya confirmed the development in an interview with ZANIS today.

Mr. Bwalya has since urged farmers not to panic but to take their maize to the nearest depots as monies are available to pay for their produce.

He said the crop marketing season is progressing well as all the 21 depots in the district have been opened adding that empty grain bags were also enough and readily available in stock.

Mr. Bwalya revealed that concerns by farmers that the maize weighing scales at all the depots were not enough will be addressed so that the buying exercise progresses smoothly.

Meanwhile, farmers in Kasama have thanked the government for the timely release of funds towards the purchase of maize in the District.

A representative of the farmers, Doris Mwansa said so far a number of farmers have sold their maize produce to the Food Reserve Agency (FRA) since the start of the crop marketing season last month.

She however urged the FRA to increase the number of scales at various depots in order to speed up the weighing of maize bags and buying of the produce from the farmers.