The Food Reserve Agency (FRA) has projected to purchase about 57,000 metric tons of maize from farmers in Northern Province.

FRA Provincial Marketing Coordinator, Timothy Chanda, disclosed the development in an interview with ZANIS shortly after inspecting the maize storage sheds in Lupososhi District.

This is ahead of the crop marketing season which is expected to open soon.

Mr Chanda said the agency is expected to purchase huge quantities of maize from farmers in Luwingu, Lupososhi and Chilubi districts. 

He explained that this is because the three districts are the highest producers of maize in the region and have less numbers of private buyers.

Meanwhile, Mr Chanda disclosed that FRA has embarked on an exercise to delink Lupososhi and Chilubi districts from Luwingu district in an effort to improve efficiency in the maize marketing exercise.

He said that this will reduce the workload on the marketing officers who will now be managing 38 satellite depots from the initial 58 satellite depots.

And speaking when he addressed members of the Chisense Multipurpose Cooperative in Lupososhi District, outgoing Northern Province Deputy Permanent Secretary, Lewis Mwape said the province is ready for the 2024 maize marketing season.

Dr Mwape said delinking Lupososhi district from Luwingu will shorten the distances that farmer’s used to cover when transporting maize to the main satellite depots in Luwingu.

He added that the provincial administration is aware of the poor rainfall experienced in some parts of the county hence it will ensure that all the maize in the region is mopped up before the close of the crop marketing season.

And farmers in Lupososhi district have welcomed the move by the agency to delink them from Luwingu saying this will reduce the cost of transportation.