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The Food Reserve Agency (FRA) has announced crop purchase prices for the 2025 crop marketing season, with the price for a 50-kilogramme bag of white maize set at K340—an increase of K10 from last year’s K330.
The agency will also buy a 40-kilogramme bag of paddy rice at K300. In the first phase of the exercise, the FRA targets to purchase approximately 543,000 metric tonnes of white maize and 10,000 metric tonnes of paddy rice.
FRA Board Chairperson, Sureshi Desai, announced the new prices on Tuesday during a media briefing held at the Mulungushi International Conference Centre in Lusaka.
The meeting was attended by various stakeholders, including farmer organisations and the Zambia National Farmers’ Union (ZNFU).
Desai said the agency had opened 1,428 satellite depots across the country to facilitate smooth implementation of the national crop purchase programme.
The selection of depot sites was done in consultation with key stakeholders in the agricultural sector.
“To manage operations at all the satellite depots, the agency has recruited 2,856 seasonal depot staff,” he added.
Desai also disclosed that the FRA was in the process of distributing and positioning essential marketing materials such as grain bags, bailing twine, stationery, and other requisites.
Calibration and certification of weighing scales by the Zambia Metrology Agency have been completed and are ready for use.
He urged farmers to prioritise household food security by retaining sufficient stocks for home consumption, and seriously consider selling surplus produce to the FRA.
Desai further advised farmers to clean their grain before delivery to ensure quicker handling at depots.
“The agency will begin crop purchases in regions where the grain moisture content has reached the acceptable threshold of 12.5 percent, in line with Zambia’s scientifically recommended grain quality standards,” he said.
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