By KENNEDY MUPESENI –

THE Indaba Agricultural Policy Research Institute (IAPRI) says the Food Reserve Agency (FRA) should not buy more than the budgeted for 500,000 tonnes of maize this year.
The IAPRI says the agency should confine itself to procuring the 500,000 tonnes of maize to promote sustainable maize market development in the coming crop marketing season.
This is according to its latest agricultural policy analysis dubbed, “Bumper Harvests a Curse or a Blessing for Zambia: Lessons from the 2014/15 Maize Marketing Season.”
The report states that FRA needs to confine itself to buying not more than 500,000 tonnes of strategic maize grain reserves.
“Furthermore, FRA should concentrate its activities in surplus but uneconomic areas, which are not well serviced by the private sector,” states the report.
It stated that Government should announce such measures in good time and stick to the pronouncement to encourage effective participation and investment by the private sector.
FRA should purchase strategic reserves at market prices including buying through the Zambia Agricultural Commodity Exchange (ZAMACE) Warehouse Receipt System(WRS).
FRA buying of maize through ZAMACE would lead to an undistorted efficient market.
It says that FRA should dispose of unused strategic reserves at market prices to both formal and informal sectors as well as selling through the commodity exchange.
Government should promote and incentivize the private sector in investing in storage facilities, as they are more cost-effective.
The institute has also proposed that Government considers using the private sector to store the strategic reserves to minimize storage losses.
There was also need for Government to consider reviewing the country’s strategic grain reserve requirement that was purchased through FRA.
The report further says the current 500,000 tonnes was considerably more than what the country needs.
Even when there is drought the country is now better placed to deal with any shocks without the need to hold such huge stock levels.