GOVT URGED TO CREATE SPACE IN FRA RESERVES FOR PURCHASE OF SOYABEANS

Opposition Party of National Unity and Progress President Highvie Hamududu is urging the government to find a market for the 100,000 metric tons of soya beans currently in the Food Reserve Agency -FRA- storage and create space to buy the crop from farmers who planted in the last farming season.

Mr. Hamududu notes that since the FRA is not buying soya beans in this year’s crop marketing season as indicated, it will only be fair and wise that government finds money to enable the Agency to purchase the crop from farmers.

Speaking when he featured on Tuesday’s edition of let the people talk program on Phoenix FM this morning, Mr. Hamududu says this is because the government has gone against the farmers after advising them to diversify and plant other crops away from maize and should therefore by from them.

And Mr. Hamududu is calling on the government together with the private sector to create a marketing agency that will help link farmers to the market to sell their produce.

Mr. Hamududu says the marketing agency should take away the function of crop marketing from the FRA so that farmers can be linked to a lucrative market and remove restrictions on exports.

He explained that with the 500,000 metric tonnes of maize target that FRA plans to purchase in this year’s marketing season, it will be impossible for the agency to buy all the maize on the market thereby forcing farmers to sell a 50kg bag of maize at a loss at K150.

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