Fri, 03 Mar 2017 10:47:05 +0000 CONCERNS of looming maize storage crisis in Zambia owing to the envisaged surplus of maize crop at the end of the 2016/2017 farming season need serious consideration. And it is public knowledge that though Zambia has 458 units of storage facilities whose storage capacity is 2 million metric tonnes (MT) only 1.1 million MT is serviceable. Probably, this overly poor record of storage capacity is what raises concerns among the stakeholders. In a communique to the Minister of Agriculture Dora Siliya, the Zambia National Farmers Union (ZNFU), the Millers Association of Zambia (MAZ) and the Grain Traders Association of Zambia (GTAZ) state that as of 28th February, 2017, the country sits on a total of 915,000 metric tonnes of maize stocks. According to the three farmer associations, if Zambia net out 400, 000 MT for the next four months (March-June 2017) consumption as well as the 280,000MT in […]
