Agency now to purchase less maize due to cash limitation
What you need to know:
The agency has set up 21 stations where farmers will be able to sell their agricultural produce, adding that the buying season was officially started on Monday. A kilogramme of maize would be bought for Sh510.
Songea. The government has set aside Sh5.5 billion for 10,000 tonnes of maize which it plans to buy directly from farmers in the region this financial year.
Speaking to The Citizen on Tuesday zonal manager of the National Food Reserve Agency (NFRA) Majuto Chaburuma it won’t buy maize from agents.
He said the agency has set up 21 stations where farmers will be able to sell their agricultural produce, adding that the buying season was officially started on Monday. A kilogramme of maize would be bought for Sh510.
The NFRA official explained that all the purchased maize would be stored at the agency’s warehouses along Ruhuwiko Street in Songea. He urged farmers to open accounts at CRDB Bank and NMB Bank because NFRA won’t pay them in cash but would instead deposit their dues no their respective accounts.
Mr Majuto said NFRA was scouting for funds to enable it buy an extra 10,000 tonnes.
One of the farmers, Mr Henry Athanas expressed misgivings over the government’s decision to buy only 20,000 tonnes from the region. He appealed to the government to lift the ban on maize exports, to enable farmers look for markets outside the country.
