THE Food Reserve Agency (FRA) has revealed that the Zambia National Service (ZNS) has been collecting white maize from its reserve depots.
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FRA Public Relations Coordinator, John Chipandwe has also disclosed that FRA has been granted permission to sell 31, 000 metric tonnes of grade A non-genetically modified white maize to ZNS for the next three months.
He has also clarified that the maize which FRA supplies to ZNS is not genetically modified, but home-grown white maize by local subsistence farmers.
Mr Chipandwe was speaking in an interview, adding that the agency buys and stores crops in the national food reserves only to be released during strategic critical times of national need.
“The agency is working with the Ministry of Agriculture and has partnered with other government institutions like ZNS which has milling plants,” he said.
He stressed that the partnership with ZNS is aimed at stabilising mealie -meal prices and making the commodity available on the local market.
“We have been releasing stocks and we are still doing so and ZNS is busy drawing maize from the nearest FRA reserves and taking the stock to their milling plants,” Mr Chipandwe said.
He also called on the local farmers to continue selling their crop to FRA as the crop marketing season for the year 2023 is still ongoing.
“We are still buying high quality grade A white maize, soya -beans and rice from farmers across the country. Our depots are still operational countrywide and as FRA we are still appealing to farmers to deliver their stock to the nearest FRA depots,” Mr Chipandwe said.
And ZNS Chief of Marketing and Public Relations Officer, Mulenga Nyone has refuted claims that it has been selling mealie -meal from GMO maize.
Colonel Mulenga said the ZNS Eagles mealie -meal supplied to the public is made from locally bought maize from both local farmers through the milling plants and FRA. – ZANIS.
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