Maravi

FRA owes farmers K979bn

FRA owes farmers K979bn
By Gift Chanda
Tue 23 Oct. 2012, 16:10 CAT

THE Food Reserve Agency owes farmers K979 billion for the maize they supplied to the agency during the ongoing marketing season, a senior official said yesterday.

Chola Kafwabulula, FRA acting managing director, disclosed that the agency as at October 12 had bought 968,242 metric tonnes of maize valued at over K1.2 trillion.

He said the 968,242 metric tonnes, a bulk of which was bought from Southern and Eastern provinces, represents 97 per cent of the 1 million metric tonnes target to be purchased by the end of this month.

"FRA has since paid out over K279.5 billion on maize purchases while payments have continued to be made to farmers country-wide in order to offset the K979 billion outstanding balance," Kafwabulula said in an emailed statement.

He added that following reports of fraudulent activities, the agency had stepped up security measures to ensure that payments were only made to genuine farmers who supplied the maize.

Kafwabulula said all payments were being adequately screened with the help of experts in white collar financial crimes.

"The agency will continue to pay until all farmers receive their money for the maize supplied," he added.

"The agency hopes to pay all farmers by the first week of November, just after the close of the purchasing exercise on 31st October, 2012."

The FRA had targeted to buy one million tonnes of maize from small-holder farmers this year compared to the 1.3 million tonnes it bought last year.

Labels: CHOLA KAFWABULULA, DOMESTIC DEBT, FRA

posted by MrK @ 3:39 PM