‘FRA–farmers scandal will haunt HH next year’
By The Mast Reporter
THE delay in paying farmers for supplying maize to the Food Reserve Agency (FRA) will haunt President Hakainde Hichilema next year, former Sinda District Agriculture Committee chairperson Laiva Zulu has said.
In an interview with The Mast, Zulu said the failure to pay farmers in time would be a 2026 campaign message.
He said the failure put Hichilema and his party at the risk of losing elections next year.
“Nobody will believe them. No one can trust the UPND [United Party for National Development] and the President. No matter what message they will tell the people of Sinda and Eastern Province in particular, Zambians here have resolved not to trust them and they are saying failure to pay them for selling maize to the FRA will be a campaign issue. I have moved and our people regret voting for him. In fact they are saying ‘iyi boma ni boma yaboza [they are saying this government is a government of lies],” he said.
Zulu said farmers were not interested in the Zambia-Malawi maize transaction as they were not involved.
He said farmers were of the view that if the government knew it never had money, it could have allowed farmers to sell their farm produce to briefcase buyers.
“The statement that our maize was sold to Malawi does not make sense to us. We sold to FRA, not Malawi, and we expected our own government to pay us in good time, unlike what is happening now. This is unacceptable because it has subjected us to a lot of problems and suffering,” he said.
Zulu said the delay in paying them had affected their 2025-2026 farming season, with many farmers opting to stay away as they were now late for planting.
“As farmers we plan, as farmers we budget, but we have our budget destroyed by the government. This government has destroyed us badly, and now we are in deep debt trying to access seed and fertilizer, something we never planned for. And some have even opted out,” he said.
He said Zambians and farmers in particular would use next year’s election to correct the mistake they made in 2021 of electing a government with anti-farmers policies.
“it’s so sad that this government is treating us like this, yet next year it’s the elections. As farmers, we are upset, and we have lost hope in this government because we have been pushed into poverty. This government is keeping our money. It’s not known how farmers will react next year during polls, but I wish President Hakainde Hichilema could work on this issue as soon as possible before it’s too late,”he said.
He said out of 1,500 farmers in the district, only 100 had been paid.
