No maize purchases for Admarc
Ministry of Agriculture says State produce trader Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (Admarc) will this year not be involved in maize procurement as the function will be undertaken by National Food Reserve Agency (NFRA).
The ministry’s Principal Secretary Dickxie Kampani confirmed the arrangement on Friday, saying Admarc, which is mandated to ensure maize price stabilisation on the market, is not a beneficiary of the K12 billion allocated in the 2023/2024 National Budget for procurement of maize.
He said: “The K12 billion is for maize, yes, but the decision is that NFRA should purchase that maize because that maize is for social functions. So, Admarc may not be able to use those resources to buy their commercial maize. The K12 billion will be utilised by NFRA to buy SGR [strategic grain reserves] maize.”
Government already released K6 billion to NFRA for procurement of maize.
Kampani said Admarc’s plan is to buy crops for commercial purpose, which means it cannot be given money to buy maize for the SGR.
He said: “Admarc is looking for a lot of money.
They are right now looking for about K16 billion so that they can use it to buy their commercial produce, that is soya beans, beans and what have you. They [Admarc] are focusing on things they will be able to aggregate and sell. So, maize for now is not in the line of what Admarc would like to buy.”
However, Admarc has all along indicated that it is ready to buy maize. At first the institution said it was waiting for moisture content to reach the right levels before indicating it was waiting for direction from the Ministry of Agriculture to start buying.
When contacted on the developments yesterday, Admarc board chairpeson Zachary Kasomokera said the Ministry of Agriculture was best-placed to speak on the matter.
However, Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture chairper son Sameer Suleman expressed sadness with government’s move to deprive Admarc of funding for maize purchases, saying doing so is opening doors for vendors to exploit farmers.
He wondered how maize prices will be stabilized with Admarc not being involved in buying of maize.
Suleman said: “This is very sad news. I am very sad now after hearing this. What will happen to the farmers who were told by government not to sell their maize because Admarc is going to buy from them? Government is killing the farmers.
“Vendors are buying from farmers at prices below the farm gate price. NFRA cannot go to the rural areas to buy maize and farmers are left to be exploited by vendors. It is very sad.”
He said if government is not ready to fund Admarc so that it buys maize from farmers, it is better that it should shut it down.
NFRA is buying maize from suppliers with a minimum of one metric tonne (MT) of white non-genetically modified maize that meets the agency’s quality specifications which include production years 2022 and 2023, moisture content maximum of 12.5 percent, broken maximum of thre e percent , shrivelled maximum one percent, weeviled grain maximum one percent, grain of other colour maximum two percent, extraneous matter and trash maximum 0.3 percent, rotten/moulded grain maximum one percent, no germinated grain, no contaminants and no live insects. In the 2023/24 National Budget ,government allocated K12 billion for maize purchases. Government also allocated K6 billion to Admarc for its restructuring process and another K4 billion for its recapitalisation.
