The government has announced that it is going to buy the previous season’s maize harvest produced by farmers in Nyagatare District.

This comes after numerous complaints by the farmers that they had produced a lot of maize but lack markets.

The excess production of maize was due to the effectiveness of the government policy of land consolidation and planting of appropriate crops depending on areas.

The land use consolidation policy was implemented in 2008 and has achieved tremendous success according to the Ministry of Agriculture.

Minister Agnes Kalibata said that the government is going to buy the maize through traders so that it can be stored in case of any emergency.

"Farmers should not worry about the lack of markets for their maize because the government is ready to buy all their produce,” said the minister, who attributed the surplus of the produce to the good harvest experienced the previous season.

"They should not succumb to the pressure put on them by those who want to rip them off for personal gains by buying their produce cheaply. They should be patient because the government will buy the maize at good prices,” she said.

Kalibata said that the produce will be stored and can be distributed in case there is hunger anywhere in the country and can also be used to bail out farmers when there is lack of seeds during planting periods.

She added that MINAGRI‘s promise of availing maize harvesting machines to the farmers to ease their work had been fulfilled.

Nyagatare district is one of the areas that are suitable for maize growing in the country.

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