Grains stakeholders asks govt to lift ban on export of maize

Grains stakeholders asks govt to lift ban on export of maize

The grains stakeholders have urged government to lift the ban on maize and mealie meal exports in order to avert the looming maize industry crisis during the 2017 marketing season.

The meeting comprising Zambia National Farmers Union (ZNFU), Grain Traders and Millers Association of Zambia was held on Friday at the ZNFU Head Office in Lusaka to look at the 2017 marketing season.

According to the ZNFU Weekly Brief made available to QFM News, the stakeholders observed that current estimates indicate that the country will have a total of 915, 000 metric tonnes of maize stocks prior to the 2017 harvest.

The stakeholders ascertained that the country has a maize surplus of 230,000 metric tonnes which will interfere with the new crop for 2017 marketing season.

As a result of this carryover surplus, the industry is experiencing reduced appetite for the 2017 crop as buyers which are the traders and millers are still struggling to dispose of the old maize stocks.

Additionally, there is also reduced appetite from regional buyers as countries such as Malawi and South Africa are already forecasting surplus production for the year 2017.

The report says consequences of this maize oversupply exacerbated by the current ban on maize exports are that; farmers, traders, and millers risk going bankrupt and that FRA will be required to purchase over 2 million metric tons of small-scale farmers’ maize and cause unnecessary stress to the national treasury.

In the brief, the stakeholders have observed that in order to avoid this looming maize industry crisis, the private sector players have asked government to immediately allow exports of 230, 000MT in form of maize and mealie meal, immediately allow bran exports up to month end of May 2017, and cancel the current Tripartite Maize Sale Program (GTAZ, MAZ, FRA) as it has failed to achieve the intended objectives.