By KENNEDY MUPESENI –
The Food Reserve Agency (FRA) should directly supply maize on open markets to stabilise mealie meal prices, the Indaba Agriculture Policy
Research Institute (IAPRI) has suggested.
The policy of supplying maize by the FRA only to large millers has been found to be ineffective in reducing maize meal prices because the benefits of the low maize prices are not trickling to the final consumers.
This is according to IAPRI latest research dubbed ‘The paradox of high mealie meal prices amidst abundance: Maize grain to mealie meal
price transmission in Zambia’. The report stated that FRA should supply maize to all market participants, both formal and informal, to provide consumers with maize meal choice at reduced prices.
It states that to provide consumers with optional sources for a viable, cheaper maize meal, there is need for the Government to have a deliberate policy that promotes the development of small mills and hammer mills.
“In the event that Government were to implement consumer subsidies to millers in the hope of stabilising mealie meal prices, this should be
targeted to roller meal production because it is a cheaper meal,” the report says.
