FRA Maize Price Is Fair, Says Chief Bunda Bunda

House of Chiefs Chairperson Chief Bunda Bunda has described the Food Reserve Agency's new maize price as fair, saying it strikes a balance between what farmers earn and keeping mealie meal affordable for consumers.

The FRA announced this week that it will buy maize at K347 per 50kg bag for the 2025/2026 marketing season, up from K340 last season. The agency said the K7 increase takes account of farmers' production costs while shielding consumers from sharp rises in the price of mealie meal.

Chief Bunda Bunda said that raising the price too far would only drive up the cost of mealie meal for everyone. The adjustment, he said, reflects the government's effort to cushion farmers against rising input costs without triggering food inflation.

The traditional leader used the occasion to urge farmers across the country to hold back part of this season's harvest rather than selling everything, warning of the likelihood of poor weather in the coming farming season. He appealed to fellow traditional leaders to sensitise their subjects in every chiefdom to prioritise food security before taking grain to market.

He said the lessons of previous dry spells were clear: households that kept reserves coped far better during lean periods than those that had sold their entire crop. Planning ahead now, he added, would help protect families if the next season proved difficult.