Zambia National Farmers Union (ZNFU) has expressed sadness at the failure by the Food Reserve Agency (FRA) to pay farmers on time.
ZNFU Public Relations Officer Calvin Kaleyi has since urged FRA to make plans in advance on how farmers can be paid on time as decisions on farming can not be delayed.
Mr Kaleyi said the delay in payment has greatly affected the farming sector.
“It is regrettable that not paying farmers on time has become the new normal way of doing business when dealing with FRA,” he said.
Mr. Kaleyi said farmers had faced several setbacks in the 2018 farming season, including the delay in the distribution of farming input.
He added that the distribution of farming inputs was slated for September 2018 but it was instead delayed until late November 2018.
The ZNFU spokesperson disclosed that farmers had produced 3.6 million metric tonnes of maize in 2016/2017 but in the 2017/2018 farming season there was a reduction of 2.3 million metric tonnes, which indicates decrease in production.
He however said that now is the time to walk the talk and avoid repeating the same mistakes each year, adding that the cycle of crop production is known by all.