By CHATULA KANGALI –
MAIZE farmers already complaining about the low price of grain at which they have had to sell the commodity this year, are being warned they could suffer further losses with the onset of the rainy season.
Millers are now warning that farmers hoarding maize in the hope of an improved price might be better-off offloading it on to the market now as the grain, harvested in a bumper yield this season, is expected to continue dropping.
The price of maize which traded between K50 and K70 per 50kg bag at the opening of the marketing season in most parts of the country has dropped, with some areas trading the commodity for as low as K30.
Even in Nakonde, where buyers from Kenya and Tanzania flush with foreign currency, had caused the price to spike to between K90 and K100, it is now said to have crashed to between K30 and K40 for a 50kg bag.
Millers Association of Zambia (MAZ) president Andrew Chintala said in an interview that there was need for farmers to offload the maize they were still holding due to low prices on the market.
Mr Chintala said the signs were that the rainy season had started and most farmers did not have proper storage facilities for maize and other grains, risking losing what stocks they still held.
He said the prices of maize on the market had been dropping and that the trend could continue and likely to worsen due to low demand of the commodity in the region.
He said farmers should sell their maize now to avoid making losses and compromising the quality of the grain due to poor storage facilities.
Mr Chintala said farmers should not be comfortable holding on to the maize based on the market trend for the past four years where the demand for the commodity increased after December.
He advised farmers to consider selling their maize to the Food Reserve Agency (FRA) and to millers who had proper storage facilities to prevent it from going to waste.
Mr Chintala said some millers were turning away farmers for selling rain-spoiled maize.
He said when the quality of maize was compromised it became unsafe for human consumption and might cause animal diseases if processed as feed.
He said millers were shocked that some farmers were still holding and selling maize that was harvested in the 2015/2016 farming season.