Government asks Parliament for K19.9 billion more, with K14.7 billion to pay farmers for maize sold to the FRA

Finance and National Planning Minister Dr Situmbeko Musokotwane on Thursday 22 October asked Parliament to approve K19.9 billion in extra spending for 2026, and K14.7 billion of it is meant to pay farmers who supplied maize to the Food Reserve Agency (FRA). He presented the Supplementary Estimates of Expenditure No. 2 of 2026 to the National Assembly under Article 203 of the Constitution. Dr Musokotwane said the new obligations came up after Parliament approved the 2026 budget in December 2025. The biggest of them is maize. The government decided to use this year's bumper harvest to build up food reserves ahead of a lean season expected in 2027 because of El Niño, and the FRA ended up buying 2.7 million metric tonnes against an original target of 500,000 tonnes. Agriculture takes K15.8 billion, or 79 percent of the request. Besides the K14.7 billion for maize payments, K1.1 billion would fund the e-voucher system of the Farmer Input Support Programme (FISP) for the 2026/27 farming season. The Ministry of Finance and National Planning is asking for K1.3 billion, including K1 billion to pay the Zambia Revenue Authority the 2026 Asycuda processing fees and K232 million to record additional World Bank grants. Education would receive K540 million so the Higher Education Loans and Scholarship Board can cover shortfalls in university tuition and student allowances for 2026. The Ministry of Defence is asking for K422.5 million because its security wings have cost more to run than planned, and K300 million is set aside in the Contingency Vote for needs nobody foresaw. Most of the money would be borrowed. The minister said K18 billion would come from additional domestic borrowing, with details to follow in a revised Annual Borrowing Plan. The rest would come from K1.3 billion in extra revenue collections, K510.8 million in donor funds that were not planned for, K82.9 million saved on external debt payments and K27.3 million carried over from 2025. Speaker Nelly Mutti refer