By MILDRED KATONGO –
THE Food Reserve Agency (FRA) has offloaded 40,000 bags of maize to Nakonde Milling to help increase the production of mealie meal.
Nakonde Milling director Abuild Simaye said the milling company, which commenced operations recently, needed sufficient maize to increase production.
Mr Simaye said the milling firm purchased maize from the FRA Mwenzo depot in Nakonde and that the production would increase from 900 to 1,200 bags per day and that the mealie meal produced would be sold at K85 per 25 kilogramme bag.
“We are happy that FRA has finally agreed to offload the maize to help us increase our production capacity. We have bought about 2,000 tonnes, which is about 40,000 bags of maize and this will go a long way,” he said.
Mr Simaye said with the increase in production and the number of bags of maize received, the milling company would be able to cater for Northern and Muchinga provinces in terms of supplying mealie meal.
He said the acquired maize was enough to last for months before the milling company commenced the purchase of the commodity from local farmers.
Mr Simaye said at the moment the firm could not buy maize from local farmers because the moisture content was still high.
“We applied and asked the FRA to sell us the maize because they still have the commodity for the last farming season. We are unable to purchase maize from the local farmers at the moment because the moisture content is still high,” Mr Simaye said.
He appealed to local farmers to sell their maize to the milling company once the moisture content had dropped.
The milling company has embarked on a marketing campaign to encourage farmers to supply it with maize once the moisture content reduces.
Mr Simaye commended the FRA for agreeing to offload maize to help increase production for the benefit of the local people.