By JUDITH NAMUTOWE? –

THE National Union for Small Scale Farmers of Zambia (NUSSFZ) has said the Food Reserve Agency (FRA) should quickly distribute empty grain bags to small-scale farmers in the country.
NUSSFZ director—administration and finance Emack Kaoma said in an interview in Lusaka yesterday that his union was concerned that FRA had not finished distributing empty grain bags in most parts of the country.
Mr Kaoma sited Chief Nsokolo’s area in Mbala District where more than 150,000 by 50 kilogramme bags were still lying unpacked, with other areas being parts of Kasama and Nakonde.
He said this was a source of concern for the union because farmers had to spend nights outside guarding there commodity.
“We are frightened as the union with the rate at which FRA is moving, because the commodity might go to waste if nothing is done to it before the rainy season.
“One good example is in Chief Nsokolo’s area in Mbala District. There are more than 150,000 by 50 kilogramme bags which require to be bagged,” Mr Kaoma said.
And Mr Kaoma said the Government should revisit the area of payments for small-scale farmers who had sold their commodity to FRA as most of them had not been paid.
He said though the Government said most of the farmers had been paid, what was obtaining on the ground was the opposite.
Mr Kaoma noted that if farmers were not paid on time, they would not actively participate in?the 2014/15 farming season.