Govt admits owing Zambian farmers K14.6 billion

Government owes farmers K14.6 billion for maize and rice supplied to the Food Reserve Agency (FRA), with only K4.1 billion paid out of the K18.7 billion value of crops purchased during the 2025/2026 marketing season, Parliament has heard.

Acting Minister of Agriculture Situmbeko Musokotwane said the Treasury would provide K14.7 billion through the 2026 Supplementary Budget to clear the outstanding payments.

Musokotwane disclosed this in a ministerial statement delivered in Parliament on Tuesday on payments to farmers and plans for maize exports.

He said the FRA opened its crop purchasing programme on July 29, 2026, with an initial target of 500,000 metric tonnes of maize and 1,000 metric tonnes of paddy rice. The agency later increased its maize purchase target to 2.7 million metric tonnes following high volumes of maize offered by farmers.

Musokotwane said maize purchases from 1,850 buying depots were valued at K18.738 billion, while rice procurement stood at 1,304.41 metric tonnes, valued at K9.7 million.

“From this total value, I wish to report that a sum of K4.1 billion has since been paid to farmers for maize already delivered to the agency with an outstanding balance of ZMW14.6 billion yet to be paid to the farmers,” he said.

Musokotwane said the Ministry of Agriculture aimed to ensure that the bulk of the payments were made by November 2026, adding that the planned financing would be sufficient to settle the outstanding amounts in full.

He said Zambia produced an estimated 5.1 million metric tonnes of maize during the 2025/2026 agricultural season, including seed maize.

Combined with carry-over stocks of 1.42 million metric tonnes, the country had total available maize stocks of 6.71 million metric tonnes against national requirements of 4.2 million metric tonnes.

“This represents a significant increase in national maize production which has contributed to strengthening the country’s food security position,” Musokotwane said.

He said the production levels had created a marketable surplus of 2.5 million metric tonnes, placing the country in a position to meet its food requirements until the next harvest.

Musokotwane said the FRA expected to purchase a cumulative 2.7 million metric tonnes of maize from 1,850 buying depots at a cost of K18.738 billion.

“The agency is expected to purchase a cumulative total of 2.7 million metric tonnes of maize from 1,850 buying depots, valued at K18.738 billion. This will bring the total stocks of maize, held by the FRA to 4.1 million metric tonnes,” he said.

He said the FRA was pursuing regional market opportunities and had secured sales contracts to improve stock turnover, recover funds and strengthen its sales programme.

“To date, the agency has secured sales contracts for a total of 1.7 million metric tonnes of which 1.5 metric tonnes and 212,000 metric tonnes is for the export and domestic markets, respectively,” he said.

Musokotwane assured the nation that maize held in the National Strategic Food Reserve was sufficient to meet national requirements.

He said strengthening household and national food security remained a key government priority, particularly amid heightened concerns over the threat of El Niño.

The minister said Government remained committed to settling all outstanding payments as funds became available and thanked farmers for their patience.

He added that the export programme was expected to generate revenue to sustain the national food reserve and support future crop procurement.

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