Minimum Farm-Gate Prices Not Reflective of Reality on the Ground

An agricultural expert, Kingdom Kwapata has described the minimum farm-gate prices set by the Ministry of Agriculture as not a true reflection of the reality on the ground.

The government has released the prices where among others maize will be sold at 1050 kwacha per kilogram.

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According to Kwapata, the prices will start rising in due course considering that the country is undergoing a recession period.

“We are not expecting to have a lot of maize this year because of quarries among other reasons, farmers did not access fertilizer as you know fertilizer was expensive and this combined with the poor rains will cause the scarcity of the commodity leading to increase in prices,” Kwapata explained in an interview.

Kwapata added that “we are projecting that probably within due course the real price of maize will be reflected.”

The expert has however urged farmers who can manage to withhold their commodity for sometime to do so, so that they can sell it at a higher price in the future.

“It is just unfortunate that many farmers at the moment don’t have money or resources and therefore they are desperate for access to resources. That is why they are compelled to sell at that price, but believe you me, very soon the commodity will escalate,” he explained.

Some farmers in the country have been faced with draught problems that are likely to reduce their harvest this year.