By DELPHINE ZULU –
THE Food Reserve Agency (FRA) has signed a contract with CAMCE, a Chinese construction company to build seven silos in selected districts in order to ramp up grain storage and management.
The silos project, which will be funded courtesy of Exim bank of China and Zambia, will increase the storage capacity of grain by 225,000 tonnes to add to the current 865,500 metric tonnes.
The silos once fully fledged would help to boost the socio-economic status of the local communities although by nature they were expensive to construct but had a comparative advantage over sheds in terms of management.
“Therefore the FRA storage now stands at 865,500 metric tonnes countrywide but the agency intends to increase this to 2million metric tonnes by the year 2017, according to FRA Storage Investment Plan covering the period 2014 to 2018,” the agency said in a statement.
The seven silos would provide employment to more than 200 locals, with half of them being full-time employees once operational and that the contract would include the rehabilitation of the Monze and Chisamba grain silos with capacities of 15,000 and 22,500 tonnes respectively.
The silos would consist of testing laboratories, weigh bridges, firefighting equipment, and offices and would reduce crop waste, coupled with a new management culture.
“Storage in silos lasts between three to five years without significant loss in quality while in sheds it is between one to two years, it also reduces theft and are more secure as well as reducing costs of storage,” read the Statement.
In phase one the silos would be constructed in Kalomo 50,000 tonnes, Kaoma, 25,000, Petauke, 25,000 and the rehabilitation of the Chisamba silo with 22,500 tonnes capacity, while in phase two it would be in Mufumbwe, Mansa, Kasama and Chinsali, all with 25,000 tonnes capacity.
The phase two would also include the rehabilitation of the Monze silos with 15,000 tonnes capacity and that once completed, the project would help reduce the grain wastage to below one per cent.
In phase three the Agency was targeting to build ten provincial grain silos in Mpika, Chongwe, Choma, Solwezi, Mpongwe, Mkushi, Kawambwa, Chipata, Mbala and Mongu with a total storage capacity of over 500,000 tonnes for maintenance of provincial strategic food reserves.
“Adequate modern storage and top class grain management are critical ingredients for sound administration of national strategic food reserves, and catalysts for crop diversification and improved national nutritional status”.