ZIPAR calls for predictable agricultural markets amid farmer payment delays

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The Zambia Institute for Policy Analysis and Research (ZIPAR) has called for greater predictability in the management of agricultural markets, citing delays in farmer payments during the 2025 crop marketing season.

ZIPAR Executive Director Zali Chikuli says the delays exposed deeper structural challenges in Zambia's agricultural marketing system beyond the issue of financial transactions.

Mr. Chikuli said Zambia has policies that strongly support agricultural production, as demonstrated by the positive response from farmers and the bumper harvest recorded during the 2025 farming season.

However, he said challenges emerge at the marketing stage, where existing mechanisms are not adequately designed to handle large-scale crop purchases.

Mr. Chikuli explained that the Food Reserve Agency (FRA) was originally established to purchase limited quantities of maize, estimated at about 500,000 metric tonnes, for strategic national reserves rather than to purchase the entire crop produced by farmers.

He said periods of high production expose weaknesses in the agricultural market, particularly when maize prices begin to decline sharply.

Mr. Chikuli said the regulator's role in such circumstances should be to stabilise the market and ensure that commodity prices are managed effectively.

He noted that at the height of the price decline, some farmers in Kabwe were reportedly selling a 50-kilogramme bag of maize for between K50 and K100.

Mr. Chikuli said although government eventually intervened, it was not adequately prepared to absorb the excess supply.

He explained that after the FRA purchased maize for strategic reserves, government proceeded to buy additional maize from the market.

While the intervention helped support farmers, Mr. Chikuli said the unplanned purchases created broader fiscal pressures.

He said the additional expenditure strained the national budget and contributed to delays in paying farmers as government sought resources that had initially been allocated to other programmes.

Mr. Chikuli warned that delayed payments can have consequences beyond the immediate financial difficulties faced by farmers, particularly because many depend on income from crop sales to finance inputs, planting and crop management for the following farming season.

He said financial shocks in one farming season can reduce farmers' confidence and discourage investment in the next season, potentially resulting in lower production.

Mr. Chikuli cautioned that continued uncertainty in agricultural markets could undermine future output and pose risks to long-term national food security.

Meanwhile, Mr. Chikuli has called for the adoption of export parity pricing in commodity markets.

He said the model would allow domestic commodity prices to be benchmarked against prices in export markets, helping ensure that farmers are neither underpaid nor excessively compensated.

According to Mr. Chikuli, such a system would provide fair compensation to farmers while allowing market forces to play a greater role in determining sustainable prices.

He has further urged government to expedite the conclusion of the agricultural bill currently under development.

Mr. Chikuli said the legislation is important for addressing structural inefficiencies in the agricultural sector and creating a more predictable and sustainable market environment for farmers and other stakeholders.

Ends

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