By CHATULA KANGALI –
FARMERS and grain traders have offloaded 85 000 tonnes of maize on the local market following a request by millers do so.
The maize was offloaded by farmers and grain traders early this week to enable millers access the raw material for onward mealie meal production.
Farmers and grain traders had been accused of holding maize which had led to a short supply of the commodity on the market and at least four milling plants shutting down operations.
Millers Association of Zambia (MAZ) President Andrew Chintala confirmed in an interview that 85, 000 tonnes was released on the local market following a stakeholders meeting held last week.
Mr Chintala said the 85,000 tonnes offloaded so far would help cover up the deficit the millers had.
The prices of the maize ranged between K80 and K90 per 50 kilogramme up from the K60 per bag the Food Reserve Agency (FRA) bought it.
He said millers were currently requiring 120, 000 tonnes of maize every month and that the association was hoping for more maize to be released on the local market.
“The 85,000 tonnes have been released and it will help us cover up the monthly requirement of 120,000  for  producing mealie meal.
“We  hope  more  maize  will be offloaded   by the  farmers and  grain traders before  the next harvest  which is expected  to be  ready in May this year,” he said.
Mr Chintala said the offloading of maize had helped stabilise the prices of the maize products, especially mealie meal, on the market.
He said the country still had sufficient maize  stock and that the association would continue  engaging  farmers  and  grain traders  to release  more maize on the local market.
He said with availability of maize on the domestic market, millers that had shut down their operation would resume production.
Mr Chintala could however, not state how much maize stock had remained from the bumper  harvest recorded last  farming season.