Government assurances have a way of sounding comforting in Lusaka, especially when they are delivered in carefully chosen words. But on the ground, in villages, camps and farming blocks, reality follows a different calendar altogether. This is why the latest assurance by Finance and National Planning Minister Situmbeko Musokotwane that all farmers who supplied maize to the Food Reserve Agency will be paid by January 10, 2026 is troubling when interrogated closely. On paper, January 10 sounds decisive. It sounds like closure. It sounds like government has finally got a grip on an old and painful problem. But farmers know better. They have lived this cycle before. They know that “payment by January 10” does not mean money in their...