The 2012/13 rain/cropping season in Zambia is just beginning, and some maize farmers complain that they are yet to be paid by the Food Reserve Agency for deliveries of last season's harvest.
Vice President Guy Scott has apologised and appealed to small scale
farmers to remain calm, saying government was working on speeding up the payment process to farmers who supplied their maize to the FRA. He pledged that all suppliers would be paid by the end of November.
For some farmers, this will come too late to prepare for planting for optimal yields. Planting of maize in Zambia is advised for about mid-October.
African Agriculture