The Speaker of Tanzania's Parliament, Dr Tulia Ackson, has urged maize farmers to sell their crops to the National Food Reserve Agency (NFRA) for better prices, as the agency has started buying maize for 800/- per kilogramme in regional centers and 600/- per kilogramme in peripheral areas. The government has allocated 320bn/- to NFRA for buying maize and rice. The Ministry of Agriculture has also announced the start of the crop buying season, buying 200,000 tonnes of maize and 200,000 tonnes of rice, and will issue food crop export permits online from July 1st to simplify the export procedure.