LUSAKA, Sept. 26 (Xinhua) -- Farmers in Zambia on Tuesday urged the government not to succumb to demands by some quarters of society to ban maize exports.
The Zambia National Farmers Union (ZNFU), an umbrella body for both large and small-scale farmers, said calls to ban maize exports should not be entertained as the country did not have enough storage facilities.
Calvin Kaleyi, media and public relations manager of the farmers' body, said Zambia has excess maize beyond its storage capacity hence the need to allow for export.
"Government does not have adequate silos to store away maize from farmers; neither is it willing to buy maize off all farmers, given the FRA (Food Reserve Agency) capacity, both financially and capacity of storage," he said.
Stopping the maize from being exported would lead to prices crashing further, he added.
This, he said, would lead to loss of jobs and increased poverty among farmers as well as rampant smuggling of maize across borders.
Some stakeholders have called on the Zambian government to consider banning maize exports and only allow the export of finished maize products.
Zambia produced a bumper harvest of 2.8 million tonnes of maize during the 2016/2017 season and the Food Reserve Agency said it will only purchase 500,000 tonnes from the farmers.
