FORUM for Democracy and Development (FDD) president Edith Nawakwi has called on Government to put up strict measures that will ensure mealie-meal prices are reduced in the country.
Recently, the Food Reserve Agency offloaded about 50,000 metric tonnes of maize to manage the current high price of mealie-meal on the market.
Ms Nawakwi said the hiked mealie-meal prices are unjustified, especially for poor people based in rural areas.
She said Government should ensure that all areas have hammermills at both district and provincial levels to produce mealie meal.
“Government should ensure that mealie-meal prices reduce in the country especially in rural areas were the most poor people are based.
To address such challenges, Government should invest in rural areas by setting up hammermills in remote areas both at district and provincial levels to ensure that the poor people do not buy the commodity at a higher price,” Ms Nawakwi said in an interview in Lusaka recently.
She said Government had assured the nation that there was enough maize stock to sustain the country and that it is unfortunate that despite having sufficient maize, the country is facing high mealie-meal prices which are usually caused due to the shortage of the staple food.
Zambia has about 425,248 metric tonnes of maize in the national strategic reserve for the 2013 crop marketing season.
“Government must ensure that before the country can start exporting maize to other countries, it should be certain that Zambia has enough stock to sustain the local people unlike what we are experiencing now,” she said.
Minister of Agriculture and Livestock Robert Sichinga is expected to sign a statutory instrument (SI) on the ban of maize exports to sustain mealie-meal prices in the country.
The SI will help reduce the high mealie-meal prices that the country is currently facing, hence sustain the local demand.
The past few weeks, parts of the country have been experiencing increase in the price of mealie-meal which is now fetching between K70 and K75 for a 25 kilogramme bag.
In Rural areas people have problems. Look at the number meal coming from Chipata to feed livestock in Lusaka?
The problems are these Zambia who stay Kwa and together with PF cadres
So let the prices go up so that they vote wisely
they no problems
the measures are already there. but they are badly planed and implemented by a group of illiterates in Government. they are not working.surely Zambians how can we vote for someone with 7 guns instead of 7 degrees