Government To Buy 1m Tonnes Of Maize For Strategic Reserves

President Edgar Lungu announced on Wednesday that the government would be purchasing one million metric tonnes of maize to build up the country’s strategic reserves for this year. 

Speaking during a visit to the Food Reserve Agency’s (FRA) storage sheds in Lusaka’s industrial area, the president said the government wanted to take full advantage of this year’s bumper harvest. He said climate change had made weather patterns for next year hard to predict and he wanted stockpiles to remain high.

Mr Lungu has instructed the Ministry of Finance to fund the FRA so that they can start purchasing maize in a timely fashion.

Despite the massive purchase, the president denied accusations that Zambia is running out of food, claiming “Those who want me to declare declare hunger as a national disaster don’t mean well.”

“Those are the same people who want me to completely lock down the country so that they can, in turn, blame me when the economy collapses. FRA has enough maize to feed the country including the people that have been affected by floods,” he added.

At the same visit, Agriculture Minister Michael Katambo urged farmers not to sell all their maize but to also conserve some for home consumption. 

FRA Executive Director Chola Kawabulula said the Agency had so far given the Disaster Mitigation and Management Unit (DMMU) 93 metric tonnes of Maize for food relief. 

He urged the president to ensure that the money for buying more maize is released early.