Farmers in Chipata say the decision by government to maintain the buying price of maize at 75 kwacha per 50 kilogram bag will have a negative impact on the country’s food security.
Chipata District Farmer’s Association Coordinator, Virgil Malambo told Breeze News that this is because government may not be able to buy maize from farmers as most of them may opt to sale their produce to private companies.
Mr. Malambo explained that the private maize buyers were last year buying maize at 100 kwacha per 50 kilogram and the price is likely to go up this year.
Mr. Malambo says farmers were hopeful that government was going to increase the maize price this year because the production cost has been doubled.
He says the price of fertilizer has been hiked from about 200 kwacha per 50 kilogram bag to about 400 kwacha.
The CDFA Chairperson however, appealed to government to be paying farmers who will sale maize to FRA, the Food Reserve Agency on time