Maize in Zambia - Maize is a national scandal (Reginald Ntomba)

I want to get some contemporary thoughts regarding the maize situation in Zambia that are not my own.

The following is an article published on October 21st by my friend Reginald Ntomba, a political science major who writes a weekly article for the national newspaper, The Post. 

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Maize is a national scandal

By Reginald Ntomba

The fact that maize occupies the positions of 'staple food' and is widely understood to man 'food security' does not justify the colossal amounts of money being spent on it.

According to the Nations Agriculture Policy (2004-2015), food security "means access by all Zambians at all time to enough of the right food for an active and healthy life on a sustainable basis." Nice definition. But in  practice food security means excess maize production.

We grow and store maize much more than we need. Take note that 'store' is an overstatement given the amount of maize that has gone to waste. Our national annual consumption of maize (human consumption, reserves, stockfeed and the brewing industry) is around 2.5 million tonnes. In the 2010/2011 farming season, Zambian produced 3.1 million tonnes of maize. The subsequent season record a six percent drop to 2.8 million tonnes, according to production figure from the Ministry of Agriculture. The carryover from the 2010 / 2011 and the surplus in 2011/2012 left Zambia with an excess of over one million tonnes of maize. We produce so much maize at great expense and then somehow 'discover' we have no storage facilities. The we decide to export some at a loss, while the other rots. Not too long ago, one seniour government official made solemn promise that is not about to be kept: "Not one grain will go to waste this year."

In the 2012 national budget, the government allocated K300 billion to the Food Reserve Agency (FRA) for "strategic food reserve", a synonym for maize purchases. Now according to agriculture deputy minister, Luxon Kazabu, FRA owes farmers in excess of K2 trillion, hence the recent directive to FRA to go and borrow from banks, which loan the government stands ready to guarantee.

In the 2013 national budget, the amount allocated to FRA has not changed. It's still K300 billion. From what is currently obtaining, it's all too clear that going by the amount of maize grown in Zambia, FRA will be in a similar, if not worse, position next year. If FRA can't pay all the farmers who supplied maize from the K300 billion this year when there was a drop in maize production, will the do so next year especially if the beloved 'bumper harvest' occurs?

Isn't it also strange that this year K2 trillion is required just to buy maize yet the total agriculture budget for 2013 is K1.9 trillion? Even more, other sector of the economy are deprived of adequate funding, while colossal amounts are spent of maize the just foes to waste. If the attention and money given to maize is a translation of 'putting our money where our mouth is', then we have spoiled our mouth and is in serious need of discipline.

FRA may not be a perfect institution. But all the makes it look like the bad guy it's not supposed to be. Going by the daily calls for farmers to be paid, FRA is under pressure to buy all the maize we in fact do not need, but which has nonetheless been produced. As things stand, FRA is paying for the iniquities of its forefathers; it's bearing the consequences of bad production decisions. In recent weeks farmers in Kitwe and Solwezi demanded their maize back from FRA due to delayed payments. Some of them even turned militant, compelling FRA chairperson Guy Robinson to warn against harassing FRA workers.

If farmers grew other crops that are bought by the private sector without so much hassle, the would not be waiting for the FRA to come to the rescue. In turn, FRA would not be under so much pressure. Although the government has restated intentions of expanding the Farmer Input Support Programme to include other crops, the focus has largely remained on maize. Our obsession with maize is costly. On paper, agriculture diversification is very active. The goal in the Sixth National Development Plan [SNDP] (2011-2015) is "to increase and diversify agriculture production and productivity so as to raise the share of its contribution to 20 percent of GDP". Further, one of the sectoral strategies of the National Agricultural Policy is "diversification of agricultural production and utilization."

From my layman's view, agriculture diversification can be at two levels. Across subsectors, i.e. crops, livestock and fisheries, for instance. It can also be within subsectors, for instance, diversifying crop production beyond maize (or whichever crop is grown in excess). The government partly attributed the reduction in maize this year to diversification. That may indicate that something is happening albeit at a slow pace. However, there is a gulf between policy intentions and practices. Policies and development plans are preaching diversification; the practice is that of encouraging mass maize production. If K2 trillion can go to maize alone, what diversification are we talking about?

Incidentally, both the SNDP and the Nation Agricultural Policy lapse in 2015. If we are still preoccupied with mas maize production, then when will the targeted diversification be achieved? What progress will be reported on the diversification objective two years from now?

tkambilane@yahoo.com