An official from the Zambian Government expressed jitters over the South-Central African country’s impending food scarcity due to the significant purchase of maize grain including entire unharvested fields by Kenyan buyers.
Speaking to the local press on Wednesday, July 12, Nakonde District Commissioner Marvelous Sikapizye revealed that most farmers in his locality opted to sell their produce to Kenyans at a higher price than the prevailing rate offered by Zambia’s Food Reserve Agency (FRA).
“Kenya right now is buying maize from farmers here in Nakonde at K600 per kg and most farmers have already sold their maize to them. Kenyans are coming to buy maize from these farmers so now we have more farmers selling maize to Kenyans than to FRA.
“Right now, FRA has not yet started buying maize as they are still waiting for the moisture content but Kenyans have already started buying,” the commissioner stated as reported by the Zambian Monitor.
Sikapizye noted that some of the farmers already sold their unharvested maize at Ksh 4,654 (Zambian Kwacha 600) per 50kg bag. This is a much more attractive proposition for them compared to the Ksh2,172 (Kwacha 280) offered by FRA.
As a result, the commissioner indicated that most farmers opted to sell their maize to Kenya leaving the country’s nutritional future in jeopardy.
“Kenyans are buying the whole field before the maize is ready without waiting to put it in the bags. Last year, the Kenyans were buying at K800. So we have been encouraging people to keep their maize and not to sell everything as they will remain hungry. We are worried about food security,” he added.
He noted that Zambians suffered a food shortage towards the end of 2022 after Kenya looked to the country to boost its own reserves. At the time, a 50kg bag retailed at Ksh6,206 (Kwacha 800).
In March, Agriculture CS Mithika Linturi inked a deal with the foreign government to lease farms for growing the grain at a time when Kenya experienced a severe maize shortage that pushed prices to unprecedented levels.
“I am happy the Zambian government has agreed to offer Kenyan farmers land for large-scale farming in Zambia. Kenyan farmers will in turn be required to export their yields back to Kenya in order to boost our food supply and security,” Linturi stated.
Soon after, a storm erupted in Zambia after its opposition leader, Saboi Imboela lamented that its government prioritised Kenya instead of the Zambian farmers.
Instead, he wanted the country’s farmers to be empowered to grow the maize for both local and international consumption.
Shortly after, Zambia reneged on the deal. Zambia’s finance minister Situmbeko Musokotwane said the country would not be exporting maize to Kenya citing grain shortage in the country.
