FRA TO PAY FARMERS STARTING TOMORROW
Government is expected to begin paying farmers who supplied maize to the Food Reserve Agency (FRA) during this year’s crop marketing season but are still awaiting payment.
The payments are expected to bring relief to farmers who have been waiting to receive their money after delivering their maize to the agency.
FARMERS’ PAYMENTS TOMORROW: I COMMEND PRESIDENT HICHILEMA FOR HIS INTERVENTION
I wish to express my sincere appreciation to His Excellency President Hakainde Hichilema for the Government’s announcement that payments to our farmers will commence on Friday, 13 November 2026. This intervention is welcome and consequential for the preservation of rural livelihoods.
The words of a President carry the weight of the republic. Presidential pronouncements constitute authoritative expressions of public policy, and every institution of the state must treat them with the utmost seriousness. When the President says three days, three days must mean three days. Those responsible for failing to honour that undertaking owe our farmers an apology.
I speak from experience. I sat at the feet of two former Presidents, Dr Frederick Chiluba Z”L, who mentored me after he left public office, and Mr Rupiah Banda Z”L, with whom I worked as a backbencher and subsequently maintained close interactions after he left office. I stood by both men during their legal tribulations. My interactions with other Heads of State beyond Zambia have equally reinforced my appreciation of the gravity of presidential authority and the obligations it imposes upon public institutions.
No President should be compelled to personally devise solutions to every administrative exigency. Those entrusted with public responsibilities must possess the ingenuity, initiative and institutional competence to translate presidential commitments into tangible results. Presidential undertakings must never become casualties of bureaucratic inertia.
As a religious Jew, I refer to the Gemara which teaches, “The seal of the Holy One, blessed be He, is truth.” I shall always stand with the people, defend the truth without trepidation, commend what is right without equivocation, and speak against what is wrong without fear or favour.
I commend President Hichilema for this intervention and trust that every outstanding farmer will be paid expeditiously. Our farmers deserve their money, their dignity and their prosperity.
Saviour Chishimba
President
United Progressive People (UPP)