Mwense district has been hit with shortage of mealie meal for the past one week now.
Some traders talked to by ZANIS in the area attributed the shortage of the commodity to failure by millers in Mansa to supply them at reduced prices.
Speaking on behalf of traders, Geshom Chanda said millers in Mansa have stopped selling meali meal as they are still negotiating on government directive to sell the commodity at reduced prices.
Mr. Chanda said currently, the traders have been ordering a 25 Kilogramme bag of breakfast and roller meal at KR49 and KR45 rebased respectively.
He said unless the millers reduce the wholesale price, shortage of the commodity in the area will continue because traders will not order the mealie meal for fear of running their business at a loss.
And in a telephone interview with ZANIS, APG Mansa milling manager Oscar Alikuleti said the company has reduced the price of the commodity to KR49 and KR40 rebased for breakfast and roller meal respectively.
Mwense District Commissioner (DC) Victor Kasuba said businessmen who will not comply with the president’s directive to reduce mealie meal prices risk having their licenses revoked
And Chadiza residents have complained over high mealie meal prices in the area. Chadiza District Commissioner Paul Phiri has urged consumers of mealie meal in the area not to complain much about the unreduced prices of the commodity.
The irate residents who stormed ZANIS offices in Chadiza said they were still buying the commodity at KR6O and KR65 despite the directives from the Republican President to have the prices reduced country wide.
The residents have since appealed to government to intervene in the matter and control the prices of mealie meal.
But Chadiza District Commissioner Paul Phiri said the price of the commodity was just okay because there were no millers in Eastern Province adding that whole sellers got the mealie meal from Lusaka and that they needed to make profit as well.
Mr. Phiri was however, quick to mention that traders should not exaggerate the prices to make abnormal profits because of not having millers in the region.
He said government would continue to monitor the mealie meal situation and if need arises to control the price then his office will not hesitate to move in.
In another development the District Commissioner has confirmed that the district has received some money to upgrade certain schools in the area.
He said not all schools have been catered for but that priority would be given to those schools that were in a deplorable state.
Mr. Phiri also assured those farmers that have not yet received their fertilizers due to the poor states of the roads to remain calm as government was doing everything possible to make sure that farmers receive their fertilizer.
Last week, Headman Ndondela, Ackim Banda complained about the dilapidated infrastructure at Kalemba basic school and also the luck of bore holes in the area.
Mr. Banda also complained that a number of farmers have not received their fertilizer and wondered how the fertilizer was going to be distributed in the area as the roads were impassable.
ZANIS
its ok..let them do some farming this season..why concentrate on fishing which is not profitable..?atase..
Thats news that the whole of Eastern Province doesnt have any milling company. What happened to ECU? All those private hammer mills can not meet the requirements of the population of the province. Surely, it does not make economic sense that with all the maize grown in the province, it has to transported to say Lusaka and then mealie meal being transported back over 600+km. Unbelievable! Something wrong here.
The GRZ is busy diviationg attention to arrest opposition so that they dont talk about the meal crisses. Work up opposition dont work on PF programme.
Just looking at a Game stores catalogue for this weekend, Simba Breakfast is at Kr57. Could govt go and close Game Stores immediately please!!!!!
mwa bantu kasi what is happening…i thought we had good harvests..so wat is causing aya ma shortage na ku dula kwa bunga..ama neo chifundu ku li banja langa kwa chama..aa mulye wako mpunga!! boma la kayena busy na vinthu vilije na ku mutu..like persecuting politicians..and talking about introducing local languages in education systems..who will go to these schools when bantu ba zafa na njala..mxxxm ma lubbish
Even though am a mechanic I believe its market forces and costs of production. you see energy costs have risen inculding fuel and salaries for workers. in general production costs are so high that the cost of producing a bag of Mealiemea l is about K39R. The millers also need reinvestment costs and maintenace costs and a very tiny profit per bag to produc e so they cant sell it for less than K49R. Simple All of you go and line up at millers to buy cheap or tell the govt to give them free electricity. It will come down. Market forces dear
anyway thats why ise we lima and gayisa..so it really doesnt kumya me..just my banja kum’awa….i am aware about the market forces but i thought the availability of the product would mean ati wunga would be cheaper…but when u factor in zesco and fuwelo i see ur point ba chibusa…maybe boma can reduce ma tariff ya zesco ku ma millers mwe..before pipo start eating ubunga wa maleh instead
thats good news .put a bag at k100. its demand and supply theory. we want riots. and early elections must follow .