The National Food Reserve Agency (NFRA) Chief Executive Officer Brenda Kayongo has said the agency needs additional 20 billion kwacha to enable the Agency have adequate maize stocks in its reserves.

Kayongo made the remarks during a meeting with Parliamentary committee on Agriculture, today in Lilongwe, to respond to various issues regarding the adequacy of maize in the grain reserves.

She said that currently the Agency is keeping 62 thousand metric tonnes of maize against the requirement of 217 thousand metric tonnes.

Kayongo added that the 12 billion kwacha government provided for procurement of maize this financial year is still not adequate as it will only be enough to buy around 52 thousand metric tonnes of maize.

The meeting come in following the news that Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (ADMARC) is set to sell maize to Zimbabwean firms.