Zambia's Food Reserve Agency (FRA) has appealed to the international community to help raise an estimated 6 million dollars to recondition dilapidated food silos across the country ahead of the 2007 harvest season.
The agency, the country's sole food security organisation, is responsible for buying crops, especially the staple maize, from farmers around the country as a reserve in case of famine. FRA also disburses seeds and fertilisers to small scale farmers at subsidised rates.
Officials say the expected good maize harvest of 2007 may seriously be hampered by the agency's limited capacity to store the grain. FRA currently has six maize silos in various parts of the country, but it was forced to store grain in mountains of sisal sacks covered with tarpaulin in 2006, causing much of the moistened maize to rot.
The state-owned organisation said it now urgently requires the funds to begin rehabilitating the silos. Rehabilitation work is expected to be done in phases, beginning with the two biggest silos located in the capital Lusaka, and that in the city of Kitwe.
APA News
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