The Chipata district administrative office has been directed to conduct an assessment on the situation at the FRA, Food Reserve Agency maize depots in the district.
District Commissioner, Kalunga Zulu told a media briefing this morning that the directive is from FRA head office in Lusaka.
Mr Zulu says this follows the low volumes of maize that FRA has bought in the district this marketing season.
He says that so far, most depots in the district have not purchased even a single bag of maize.
Mr. Zulu says that FRA will then decide on the way forward after the assessment report is produced.
Meanwhile Mr. Zulu says more than 300 metric tonnes of maize in trucks have been impounded so far in the district with part of it forfeited to the state.
He says the suspension on maize export is still on although briefcase buyers have continued buying maize from farmers.
The district commissioner says government is doing everything possible to curb smuggling of maize although the borders are too vast with a lot of undesignated routes locally known as Zalewa.