Sun, 24 Sep 2017 09:45:20 +0000 By Mwiine Lubemba (Not the Paramount Chief Chitimukulu) SMALLHOLDER farmers countrywide want the Food Reserve Agency (FRA) to revert the maize price to last year’s K85 per 50-kilogramme bag instead of the current K60. FRA recently announced the reduction in maize price from K85 to K60 per 50-kg bag. But the peasant farmers are reluctant to sell maize to FRA at the current price citing the high cost of fertiliser as the main reason. In the interim, though, some have opted to sell half of their produce to FRA and keep the rest for future sale, so that they reduce on losses because private buyers do not reach remote areas hence mainly relying on FRA. So how can the price of fertiliser become reduced to acceptable and affordable levels to smallholder farmers in Zambia? Could the only fertiliser manufacturing entity of anhydrous ammonia, ammonia solution, liquid carbon dioxide, liquid […]
