MAIZE is Zambia’s main staple food and yet every year, the post-harvest losses from the commodity are heart-breaking.
For Kutemba Liswaniso, 56, of Chief Musokotwane’s area in Kazungula district, a post-harvest loss on any of the food she produces is unacceptable but it happens as she watches helplessly.
She stands to admire the bags of maize she has harvested from the 2015/2016 farming season but one thing still concerns her; post-harvest losses.
“Each year, I watch my maize being wasted at the FRA depot awaiting transportation to big cities like Lusaka. The maize will be exposed to heat and wind and once these polythene bags that we use get exposed to such weather, the bags will tear off,” she says.
And for fear of losing her grain, she has opted to sell her maize to middle men, though at a loss.
“For now, the only option for rural farmers in this area is to sell our produce like maize and beans to middle men. We know it is a loss but we have no choice. The need for better and advanced storage silos is urgently here. Most of the maize and other farm produce go to waste because we do not have storage facilities and good roads,” she said.
Mrs Liswaniso is not the only one. In many rural areas in Zambia, much of the food grown never makes it past the farm gate, a situation that contributes to food insecurity.
The need to increase food production has become a policy mantra. Populations are growing, and the need for more food is becoming vital.
But much of what is produced never makes it past the farm gate, especially among the smallholder farmers in Zambia.
Another resident of the same area, Edwin Siandele, attributes the post-harvest losses to lack of technology advancement in addressing the many challenges that rural farmers face.
“Eliminating these losses will be one sure way to increase food security without requiring additional resources or placing additional burdens on the environment. But if such a trend continues, we are left with no choice but to continue selling to the middlemen at our loss, of course,” he said.
Mr Siandele says the farmers’ loss of their produce leads to a reduction in potential income, poor access to nutritious food and increased food insecurity in the region.
He says while it is a good idea for Food Reserve Agency (FRA) to purchase maize from farmers, a lot needs to be done to ensure that the maize is collected on time before the next rainy season.
“We have no problem selling maize to FRA but the problem is collection of the said maize to its final destination. The fear of post-harvest losses often compels farmers to sell their produce directly at harvest, rather than waiting for a time when prices are more favourable,” he said.
Losses typically result from poor infrastructure, particularly local access roads to farms or market; lack or poor storage facilities; poor market information; market failures and inefficiencies; lack of processing equipment; and theft and destruction caused by pests and rodents.
In Zambia, smallholder farmers contribute about 80 percent of food production, but over 30 percent of the food produced by these farmers is lost because of post-harvest loss.
According to recent Food and Agriculture (FAO) statistics, reducing food wastage and losses is one of many steps necessary to ensure food security for a rapidly growing, and urbanising global population.
FAO says post-harvest losses in Zambia and Africa can be reduced if storage technologies are introduced in the farming community to help small-scale farmers.
Every year, Zambia loses thousands of bags of maize through crop wastage resulting from poor storage and lack of good facilities and delayed collection of maize from the depots.
This costs the country billions of dollars in losses and it is a drain on the country’s resources, which it badly needs to boost food security and enhance export earnings from maize.
But three years ago, Government embarked on the construction of grain storage shades in some parts of the country aimed at mitigating grain losses.
To also address the challenge, Government has embarked on a project to construct grain silos system in the country in order to create a food reserve that can provide enough storage for grain and other farm produce.
Once this is done, it will enhance food security and wealth creation, which will lead to lower levels of poverty among farmers and eventually at national level.
The agriculture sector faces a number of challenges that imped growth and inadequate storage facilities.
Although Zambia has continued to record surplus harvests over the last few years, storage challenges in the agriculture sector must be addressed urgently if the country is to keep up the status and possibly be the food basket in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region.
There is need to avoid crop wastage because crop production takes a toll on the environment and resources for crop production.
It is therefore imperative that farmers prepare for storage of their maize in a safer manner to avoid losses and there is no better time to start preparing than now when the next farming season is about to begin. ALSO PUBLISHED IN THE ZAMBIA DAILY MAIL ON SEPTEMBER 25, 2016. https://www.daily-mail.co.zm/?p=80507
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