We agree with the Zambia Consumer Association (ZACA) concerning the high cost of mealie meal despite government’s intervention to reduce the price of the staple food.
We also ask loudly and indignantly why the price of mealie is still high despite government supplying subsidised maize to selected millers.
Recently, the millers and grain traders signed an agreement to reduce mealie-meal prices to at least K85.
Terms of agreement were that grain traders would supply millers with 245,000 tonnes of maize, while the Food Reserve Agency (FRA) would supply 300,000 tonnes and prices of mealie-meal would then be reduced to K85 countrywide.
We are surprised that the agreement was not working to the advantage of consumers and we feel the government should get tough on millers who are not fulfilling their promise.
We say this knowing for sure that mealie meal prices have far reaching consequences.
It is a subject that partially contributed to the first president Dr Kenneth Kaunda being removed from power in 1991.
Thus President Edgar Lungu’s intervention for the prices of mealie meal to go down coupled with the introduction of solar plants should be welcome by all progressive citizens.
The PF Government under the leadership of President Lungu has been relentless on its crusade to ensure there is food security in the country going by the measures the party has taken.
Apart from the solar plants projects, these include banning the illegal export of maize and maize products to neighbouring countries and effecting advanced agriculture policies.
It is also abundantly evident that President Lungu is passionate about food security especially maize since mealie meal is our staple food whose shortage immediately becomes political.
Isn’t it heartening then to note that despite most surrounding countries like Botswana, Malawi, DR Congo and Mozambique not having enough maize stocks, Zambia has enough to last the next harvest season?
The pushy Presidential Milling Initiative a brain child of President Lungu and the Zambia Cooperative Federation (ZCF) efforts to bring solar-powered hammer mills to help reduce-mealie meal prices should be hailed as one of the most radical projects to address the shortage of maize.
We feel the projects coupled with other efforts are not ordinary exercises but worthy interventions that will have a huge positive impact on the economy by offering cheaper and affordable mealie meal to Zambians.
We say this after noting that from time immemorial; sale of maize in Zambia has been beset by a myriad of problems ranging from collection, pricing, countless middlemen and several other factors.
Since projects to reduce the prices of mealie meal are already bearing fruition, we should not allow a few Kwacha-hungry dealers to frustrate such a noble intervention.