Don’t sell ‘wet’ maize, advises MAZ
By Tony Nkhoma
AVOID selling maize grain with high moisture content to avoid possible outbreak of aflatoxins, Millers Association of Zambia (MAZ) president Andrew Chintala has warned farmers in the country.
Chintala warned the farmers not to rush but hold on to their grain and avoid being exploited by selling maize at a cheaper price to small-scale buyers.
In an interview with The Mast yesterday, Chintala strongly warned farmers to be wary of the small-scale maize buyers taking advantage of the higher moisture content as a negotiating tool to buy maize at a very low price.
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“Even for us as millers, we’re quite cautious with buying grain. It has to meet the required minimum moisture content levels to avoid things like, you remember, we had aflatoxins and all that. So because of that, I think we’re a bit cautious,” Chintala said.
“This is why we’re not very active on the market,” Chintala said
Chintala advised the farmers to hold on to their maize until it has the right moisture content drops from 13 per cent to 12 per cent caused by the weather challenges being experienced in the country.
He explained that aflatoxin was caused by storing maize with high moisture content and poor storage facilities, among others.
“But notwithstanding that, we know that others are taking advantage of that by going in and buying maize with high moisture content in order to negotiate, to use that as a negotiating instrument to lower the prices. But our appeal is that the farmers should be encouraged to hold on a bit,” Chintala said.
He was happy that government had assured the millers that it would issue the crop focus survey report.
Chintala expressed hope that Zambia would be able to regain the high grain production position without obviously even attempting to estimate the figures.
“The report will be released very soon, which obviously has all these details that we may want to refer and speak to. It appears that we’re beginning to regain our production figures like it was before, that the country would always provide us, produce enough for local consumption as well as export in terms of the surplus,” Chintala.
He said Zambia was a free market economy and advised the farmers that once the grain had the required moisture content, they were free to offload their harvest to buyers.
Chintala said farmers should allow the market forces of demand and supply to determine the prices so that they could find a balance in terms of getting the correct prices.
“Because when they are selling with high moisture content, someone will say, no, it’s too wet, I need to dry it and all that. So as a result of that, they’re using moisture as a bargaining tool to reduce the prices and exploit the farmers. So all we are saying is let them wait,” Chintala said.
He pleaded with the desperate farmers not to sell everything but leave something for their own consumption for household food security.
Chintala said there could not be national food security without strengthening household food security.
