GOVERNMENT has offloaded 50,000 metric tonnes of maize onto the market to stabilize the rising price of mealie-meal.
And Minister of Agriculture and Livestock Robert Sichinga announced yesterday that Government has banned export of maize to stabilize prices of the commodity in Zambia.
Mr Sichinga said more maize will be released if there will be need so that demand is met and a stable price is maintained.
He said in a press statement issued in Lusaka yesterday that one metric tonne of maize will be sold at K1,700 to milling companies along the line of rail and the same quantity at K1, 000 to those in other areas.
Mr Sichinga said measures have been taken following a consensus arrived at after lengthy discussions involving the Millers Association of Zambia, Grain Traders Association, Zambia National Farmers Union and Government on Wednesday.
“The Food Reserve Agency has been instructed to immediately release 50,000 metric tonnes of maize onto the market. More maize will be released if necessary to ensure demand is met.
“Mealie-meal prices to the consumers should not exceed K65 per 25 kilogramme bag of breakfast meal, K45 per 25 kilogramme bag of roller meal and K650 per metric tonne of maize,” he said.
He said Government has requested grain traders to sell their current maize stock at a price not higher than K1,600 per metric tonne.
The minister also said Government will significantly scale down the quantity of maize export commitment on a government to government basis.
He said Zambia has sufficient maize stocks to ensure national food security and that it is committed to ensuring that mealie-meal prices remain stable.
Mr Sichinga also lifted the ban on the export of maize and wheat bran.
He said the measure is aimed at cushioning the millers arising from the anticipated reduction in mealie-meal prices.
“The private sector will be allowed to export limited quantities of surplus bran to neigbouring countries,” he said.
Meanwhile, Pick n Pay general manager Andy Roberts said the shop has decided to sell all its mealie-meal at all its outlets across the country at cost prices.
He said Pick n Pay is currently selling National Milling Corporation 25kg of breakfast mealie-meal at K63 and Simba Milling of the same quantity at K60.
He said Pick n Pay will continue to sell mealie-meal at the same price until December 31, 2013.
In Mansa, a snap survey revealed that the price of the commodity at Chilyapa market, UB and Mansa central business district areas has gone up by an average of K9 for the different brands.
At National Milling in the town centre, Mothers’ Pride 25kg breakfast costs K70, while Roller is fetching K49. Before the increment, the same brands were going at K65 and K44 respectively.
At a shop in House of Mansa building in the central business district, the Jimbara Milling Company mealie-meal is fetching at K70 for 25 kg breakfast and K55 for roller meal of the same weight.
Previously, the mealie-meal was sold at K65 (breakfast) and K46 for roller meal.
acts of d4speration. very shallow and useless. ba govt clean your house by formulating tangible agriculture policies and implementing them on time
So this proves what I said that it is actually the government at fault as opposed to Dark lord retarded thinking that Zambians are obsessed with Nsima.
I want to publish one article. what is the procedure?
Remember someones ordering the revocation of licence for anyone selling mealie meal above K50?! And oh, remember the removal of subsidies….on fuel…= higher transport costs for this commodity and thus increased prices. Now truth is this…..maize and mealie meal prices will never be at the level left by RB….if you still recall, RB left mealie meal at K38 per 25kg bag!!! The man for all Zambians, he used to brag….and perhaps since the man who promised us lower taxes and more money in the pocket has double the mealie meal price …..perhaps, just perhaps….RB was the man or president of all Zambians!!!! RB at K38, now Sata at K70 to K93!!!! eiish.
people like Bob Sichinga cant be trusted, they will leave zambia more poorer than they found it.
Bloggers sometimes it is not good to just blame the government just for the sake of it.Let me make a breakdown for you of what it takes for you to have a cheaper bag of mealie meal.This will make you realize the efforts and sacrifice the government is putting into it.
1) GRZ sends subsidized inputs to farmers i.e seed, fertilizer etc
2)Farmers produce maize and sells to GRZ thru FRA
3) The price of this maize is subsidized heavily (i.e deliberately made high instead of the market price which is low) because GRZ wants to help the farmers to grow more and make a profit.
4) GRZ thru FRA then sells the maize it bought at a high price to the millers at a very low price so that they can sell the mealie meal at a low price to the consumers.
In a nutshell this government is trying very hard.
Otherwise without these efforts things could have been worse and i`m talking about mealie prices.Learn to give praise when it is due and not politics all the time.Have a good weekend ladies and gentlemen.Saulosi is now preparing to go on a Christmas vacation to Zambia.Shalom shalom !!!
@Saulosi, you really tried to wash face of government. Government & FRA does a wonderful job to secure food for its citizens. Now problem is not millers or government, the problem is with transporters & the retailers. The retailers especially they change price of commodity like stock-exchange, every morning. They have to sell stock at the price they initially expected, not because of demand. Learn from Pick-n-Pay.
Saulosi; travel well to Zambia!! Drink well & remember to pack condoms. Merry-Christmas!
Saulosi so you can lie in broad daylight? What subsidies are you talking about when they were removed months ago? Why is PF facing this problems not faced by (even worser govts like) RB’s.? Why are farmers crying more for late delivery of farming implements under PF than under MMD? Even if the millers get the maize at your set price, are there other production costs that have increase such as fuel, electricity and minimum wages since PF came into power? These could our questions to this problem than always thinking that millers are against PF
Oh My God, it is true. These guys ARE directionless! Governing by knee jerk reaction,,,,, mwaona ku vota carelessly
It’s Donchi Kubeba…..but unfortunately walalila mayo!!!! Donchi kubeba waLALILA mayo…. at donchi kubeba….at donchi kubeba…..No money in the pocket, HIGH taxes, No jobs for Nurses, High mealie meal prices;;;;;;;;Donchi kubeba WALILALILA mayo… and he is in Plot 1 enjoying after he did a donchi kubeba on you!!!
kaya amvelako bwanji odwala mutima asata?
Where there is no vision, the people perish – this piece of scripture is very apt to our times under Sata and his PF . They are CNP. They think governing is all about by-elections.
This is not “crisis management”, it is “management by crisis”.
Thee is absolutely no clearly defined policy (excluding artificial creation of by-elections) and no sense of purpose (excluding desperation to hung to power).
What a waste!!!
Look at it this way: If Zambia a wholly govt owned milling company all govt would have done would have been to mill and offload cheaper mealie meal on the market without price controls and other regimes.
As it is all milling companies are milling grain from 2 past season’ s stock to which a margin on fuel and maize subsidy may have been added but this would not reach the level of the hike.
And?
Agriculture in zambia is same as maize. Hon sichinga is full of talk and very much a failure. Sir you can be very eloquent but in my few years on earth eloquence has never grown maize. What we need in zambia is not piecemeal reforms but wholesome changes that should be accompanied with behaviour change. Mono cropping is killing us. You the government are creating a picture that you are helping farmers by fertilizer and seed but tell me who you’ve weaned off from these schemes? Using farmers for your food security, how many of them are secure? Government is contributing to deforestation because of monocropping and we blame charcoal burning when these folks don’t clear the whole forest what they do is selective cutting but with agriculture you uproot everything. PF told us last year that…
Wise move by the government.
Good ! This is a good move.If only you know what the government does to maintain the mealie meal prices low while still trying to make the maize farmer make a profit you can appreciate this move.This is excellent!!!
Good intervention but lets continue with agriculture reforms for the longterm avoiding the December effect like in stock markets creating efficiencies in maize marketing on the other hand supporting agriculture and storage facilities longterm or in perpectuity and that should not depend on the circle of politics but enshrined within the broad national food security policy defining the levels of stock holding and marketing system as it where etc
The thinking to allow export is also good and should be monitored up to a particular quota ,avoiding and carefully policing the parallel black market that if exports were banned
But even then a window to restock is also not bad
Picturing a map with areas highlighted and teams of skilled and relevant key players working on ensuring problems that exist now are resolved to permanently resolve a situation. Given time in charge this team was assembled over a year ago. Duties were delegated with timelines and measures in place and a year on the progress is visible. Then I wake up… granted the improvement of transport will help down the line but it is the planning and implementation of both temporary and permanent solutions that will make the difference. Feel free GRZ to now highlight the permanent resolutions that will prove there is a plan and at what phase are we now or openly invite help from other parties with a clear workable solution. Feeding/developing a nation minus politics is a priority. Zzzzzzzz
Stop yapping u demons!One need to be objective on the issue of maize.50yrs u still think maize is de best food,50years u still ve a farmer dat is still sacking nd can’t move 2 another level. Going by dis rotten mindset even Angel Gabral will be…
viewed a failure.
Hold on. Hold on. Isn’t this the same govt that gave maize for FREE to some neighbouring country and sold some more to Zimbabwe, Tanzania, etc? I remember this in all the newspapers and also saw the trucks on TV loading
In this area of ban everything we are doing just fine.
The problem with agriculture in Zambia is that of poor productivity. If you look at the potential yields of maize varieties in Zambia they are quite high e.g 10tons per hectare. But the average yield for a smallnscale farmer in Zambia is 2 tons per hectare. This means that the average cost of production is very high because the low yield is spread over a fixed cost structure which is relatively high. And therefore the break even price is high. This means that the cost to government to acquire the maize is also high. Government needs to promote productivity inhencing technologies such as herbicide use and mechanization in order to boost yields.
Quite a variety of explanations from the govt on the mealie meal issue! The Vice President says the prices are “economical”, Kambwili threats reintroduction of price controls and now Bob says he is releasing more maize on the market to “stabilise” the price. I suppose there is no harm in having many paddlers in the boat so long as they are facing the same direction!
Paddling the same direction.indeed a requirement.
Guys come down,we can explain the issue of high price of maize and mealie meal from the angle of poor productivity with the case study of Tanzania not Zambia
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