Chililabombwe District Commissioner Roy Ngosa says he is impressed that newly formed anti-smuggling task force has helped in curbing maize smuggling in the border Town.
Speaking when he inspected the Kakoso Satellite depot, Mr Ngosa said with the formation of the anti-smuggling task force in the area it has resulted in most farmers to freely sell their produce to the FRA depots in the Town.
Mr Ngosa encouraged farmers to prioritise selling their maize to the FRA to ensure national food security adding that the government has put up mechanisms to pay farmers immediately after they supply the maize.
“We have a duty to stop smuggling of maize and mealie meal out of the country. A task force has since been formed and its working extra hard to reduce cases of smuggling. That is why a lot of farmers are bringing maize to the FRA”.
“No maize should be allowed to go out of the country without proper documentation. I therefore urge other farmers to bring their maize to FRA. Government has changed the system as farmers are being paid with immediate effect,” he said.
And Acting District Agriculture Coordinator Kaubi Hacholi said the district had projected an increased harvest of 3.3 tonnes per hectare an improvement from the 2.7 tonnes per hectare in the previous farming season.
Meanwhile, Kakoso Satellite Depot Clerk Mick Mpasela said the depot had already bought about 4783 bags of maize and farmers were still trooping in with more maize bags.
Mr Mpasela said according to information availed last week, the Kakoso depot was leading in terms of maize purchased among other depots on the Copperbelt.
Chililabombwe has four satellite depots among them Butondo, Kamemza, Fitobaula and Kakoso.
– ZANIS
