FRA Sets Maize Purchase Price at K340

The Food Reserve Agency (FRA) has announced the floor price for purchasing maize for the 2025/2026 farming season will be set at K6.80 per kg; equating to K340 per 50kg bag. This is a 2.98% increase on 2024, and the FRA has indicated that it expects to continue paying farmers more in the coming years.

Speaking at a press briefing in Lusaka on Tuesday, FRA Chairman Suresh Desai said the organisation was hopeful that by increasing the purchase price, more farmers in Zambia would start farming maize, as they had begun to do when the maize price increased last year. Last year, he said, the north of the country “involved in a big way, that historically it had not done” and as a result the national food security increased significantly.

Desai also explained that if “farmers are still looking for buyers” after the FRA purchase an initial 534,000 tonnes of maize, they would plan “phase 2, to buy what might remain”. The FRA vowed to “not abandon the farmers” and to compensate for difficulties faced over the last couple of years.

In the briefing Desai referenced a challenging 2023 and 2024, during which time the “nation felt the worst effect of climate change” and experience the driest agricultural season in more than 40 years (ZNBC). Over 9 million people in 84 out of the 117 districts were affected according to government crop assessment data.

Desai urged farmers to secure enough food for their own households before selling their produce. He further disclosed that 1,428 satellite depots have been opened across the country to facilitate the buying process, creating over 2,000 seasonal jobs.

Overall, the price of maize can significantly influence its production and, consequently, have far reaching effects on the national and regional economy, food security and rural livelihoods. The purchase price increase will not only positively impact the direct beneficiaries of agriculture, such as smallholder farmers, but also those involved in agribusiness.