. SILIYA

By STEVEN ZANDE –
THE Food Reserve Agency (FRA), Grain Traders Association Zambia (GTAZ) and the Millers Association of Zambia (MAZ) have concluded a tripartite agreement, which is expected to avail subsidised maize grain to millers and help lower the cost of mealie meal.
This came to light yesterday when Agriculture Minister Dora Siliya undertook a field visit to various stakeholders in the maize grain value chain to help find solutions to the high cost of the staple food.
FRA executive director Chola Kafwabulula said the contract would result in milling companies accessing the grain at K2,200 per tonne from the current K2,650.
According to the contract, which is expected to gain effect today, GTAZ will offload 80 per cent of the grain to millers while 20 per cent would come from FRA.
“The tripartite contract was drafted and the Attorney General has already signed it. What now remains is for the GTAZ and the millers to agree on which millers will be accessing maize from which grain trader.
“This is expected to be completed and gain effect today. Once that is done we expect the price to go down,” Mr Kafwabulula said.
He said Zambia was food-secure as the FRA was holding 333,000 metric tonnes of maize while GTA had 240,000, which was enough to feed the nation until the 2016/2017 farming season harvest.
Ms Siliya said the Government was keen to ensure that Zambians had the staple food at an affordable price while ensuring sustainability of the private sector in the agriculture value chain.
She said the Government would be conducting market promotions for products like cassava meal to help Zambians have access to a variety of products to help cushion the population against unstable mealie meal prices.
The minister visited Mushe Milling Company, the GTAZ and the FRA solar milling plant in Bauleni Township and later a privately-owned small-scale farm in Ibex Hill Extension to appraise herself with operations of the agriculture value chain.
Ms Siliya assured GTAZ that the Government would soon come up with instruments that would develop places like the Kasumbalesa Border Post into an export zone with a view to helping grain traders benefit from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) grain market.
GTAZ chairperson George Liacopoulous said the association was committed to support the Government and private sector efforts in ensuring the staple food was available and affordable to Zambians.
Grain traders were keen to expand their storage capacity to help contribute to food security and to also maximise regional demand for maize grain and other farming products.
Mushe Milling Limited finance manager Tejinddra Singh said the company would work with the Government to ensure mealie meal prices were reduced as soon as the subsidised grain was availed to them.