By JAMES KUNDA –
THE Food Reserve Agency (FRA) will soon start selling maize and rice, part of the designated commodities in the National Strategic Food Reserve to create space for new purchases, agency secretary Martha Nalubamba has announced.
Ms Nalubamba said in a statement yesterday that the agency intended to sell maize and rice on the local market between November 2014 and October 2015 through allocations to various purchase categories using different procedures for different areas depending on various market dynamics.
She said the commodities were located at various depots spread across the country and would be sold on ex-depot or Free on Board (FOB) basis.
“Pursuant to the provisions of Section 8(2) of the Food Reserve Act,
Cap.225 of the Laws of Zambia, the Food Reserve Agency hereby announces its intention to sell part of the designated commodities in the National Strategic Food Reserve during the 2014/2015 Agricultural Marketing Season”.
“The sale is in order to create space, properly handle, rotate, distribute and position designated commodities to various parts of the country as part of the national food reserve,” Ms Nalubamba said.
In the 2014-2015 maize marketing season, the FRA procured one million tonnes of maize from small scale farmers for the National Strategic Food Reserve, 500,000 tonnes more than the targeted grain requirement.
The agency had also targeted to procure 2,100 tonnes of rice from small scale farmers and as at September 20, 2014, FRA had managed to purchase 417 tonnes of the commodity.