October 5, 2010

Zambia's food agency extends corn marketing season

Zambia's state-run Food Reserve Agency (FRA) has extended the 2010-11 corn marketing season for one month in a bid to give farmers more time to offload all the stocks in their possession after a bumper harvest.

In a statement, FRA executive director Anthony Mwanaumo said the corn purchasing season, which was expected to close at the end of September, would continue until the end of October in all regions across the country.

Farmers are required to deliver corn to FRA's satellite depots across the country before the commencement of the rainy season, he added.

"The agency has called on transporters to be on board as partners in securing the maize (corn) before the onset of the rains," he said.

Last week, FRA announced it had purchased 643,000 tonnes of corn from farmers across the country by September 17 following a bumper harvest. Zambia saw a bumper harvest during the 2010-11 season which lifted output by 42% on-year to hit 2.7 million tonnes, the highest levels registered in two decades, according to FRA.

The growth is attributed mainly to favourable weather conditions, timely distribution of inputs and Zambia's efforts to diversify its copper-reliant economy.