Kasungu farmers hail NFRA mobile markets
Kasungu farmers have commended the National Food Reserve Agency (NFRA) for facilitating mobile markets in the district.
The farmers said this on Saturday when Parliamentary Committee on Commission, Statutory Cooperations and State Enterprises visited Chamama NFRA mobile market in the district to inspect how farmers were utilising it.
One of the farmers, McDonald Tembo said the mobile market helped them save on transport costs to take their produce to better markets.
“We are now selling our maize nearby. Again, NFRA is buying the maize at better prices compared with vendors who buy it for a song,” he said.
During the inspection, farmers were seen selling their maize at K750 per kilogramme.
Committee chairperson Bintony Kutsaira commended NFRA’s mobile market initiative.
“This initiative is a game-changer for farmers as it ensures that they get fair prices for their maize,” he said.
NFRA chief executive officer George Macheka said the agency secured about 3 500 metric tonnes (MT) of maize in Kasungu.
He said through mobile markets, they have collected over 8 000MT which when combined with maize secured through contract totals around 50 000MT.
Macheka acknowledged that NFRA’s operations were still manual, which he said was time-consuming. Since May this year, NFRA has been operating mobile markets in Chitipa, Mzimba and Kasungu in addition to its fixed depots
