Government has already established three milling plants in Kasama and Luwingu in Northern Province and Solwezi in North-Western Province.
Special assistant to the President for press and public relations Amos Chanda said in an interview on Monday that President Lungu wants to stabilise the price of mealie-meal and to make the staple food affordable for everyone.
“The setting up of solar-powered milling plants in all parts of Zambia is a presidential initiative to bring down the price of mealie-meal for people to easily access the commodity. So far, milling plants have been set up in some districts,” Mr Chanda said.
He said the project of setting up milling plants will be done in two phases.
He said after the project is completed, over 4,000 milling plants are expected to be established countrywide.
Mr Chanda also said the Food Reserve Agency (FRA) will be feeding the milling plants with maize bought from farmers.
He, however, said small-scale farmers will be allowed to have their maize milled at the plants to help cushion the price of mealie-meal.
Mr Chanda said the milling plants will be run by cooperatives in the respective districts.
Very intelligent move by EL who had a distinction at UNZA while hh had a silent in economics
Why then was EL not offered staff development position? It is fact that high scoring graduates are offered staff development fellowships. In any case it should be a suspect distinction because he has in real life not been successful as the HH you say had a silent in economics. You may tie ascent to presidency as success, well yes success can be both positive and negative, i.e. One can be very successful at failures!
These PF Goons never read history or remember.This is exactly what KK was doing and he failed miserably.
Its all about spending the rest of the billion dollar Eurobond before next elections so as to get commissions before exit.
Die hard are you an adult. Please read some history our former dictator(Kaunda) tried the same things and they didn’t work. If you are old enough or took some time to research and read you would know this.
How can a guy who scored a distinction end up as a failed lawyer? A silent economist end up as one of the richest if not the richest Zambian.
How can a guy who scored a distinction not have the ability to express himself and have little or no understanding of any basic economics.
A distinction with to ability to have common sense?
A guy with a distinction ends up in Chawama with a wife selling at the market?
GUYS, THESE ARE PETTY ISSUES. I MEAN DISCUSSING WHO GOT WHAT DEGREE IS REALLY PETTY. WHY CAN’T YOU ZAMBIANS, ESPECIALLY MEN, FOR ONCE DISCUSS REAL ISSUES? ECL, IS NOW THE PRESIDENT OF ZAMBIA- WHETHER HE GOT A DISTINCTION OR WHAT. YOUR TURNS TO BE PRESIDENTS WILL COME (OR WILL THEY). SO, JUST WAIT PATIENTLY AND IN THE MEANTIME RESPECT THE FACT THAT ECL IS THE DEMOCRATICALLY ELECTED PRESIDENT OF ZAMBIA.
Chipantepante
Do it please and start also establishing manufacturing companies of edible oils.Crazy foreigners with their cartel.
Good Presidential initiative. Kindly also move into edible oils. The Indians have formed a cartel and increased the price of cooking oil.
Look another white elephant called milling. The solar panels will be shared among cadres so called co-operatives in a few months after setting up. That is not the sustainable way to reduce maize. The issue here is production of the commodity and stock levels. If these 2 are not managed well, then the rules of supply and demand will play. You had allowed export of this commodity now that stock is depleting you cry the millers are too expensive.
This will just die just like the hearses and the white elephant mobile hospitals. What a waste of money—–
—- Bwana President what I would suggest you do is promoting a a deliberate policy of improving technology in our agriculture sector. This will be by buying used tractors at cheap price from England, USA, China, Japan or even new tractors that are affordable and loan them to farmers who would pay them off through maize equivalent. Today in 21st century our dear brothers and sisters in the villages should not be using garden hoes to till the land. Tractors will help to increase production and the stocks will be full and price of maize will drastically reduce in a few years.
Your thinking is okay but our culture of not paying back the loans we obtain ati “Niva boma” has killed the nation. There was farmers fertilizer support system sometime back, One gets 08 bags of fertilizer but sells 02 and uses 06 bags. Without knowing how his harvest will be and later pays everything back and starts going without food. who do you blame, the govt or the farmer? Others got citizen empowerment fund and failed to pay back. Are you sure they can pay back? I think the idea of milling plants is a good one coz even private milling companies will be forced to reduce prices due to low demand. I understand the mealie meal produced from the installed plants is going at k45. which reasonable.
@viakulolavye Yes I get your point, problem with our culture of doing things illegally with full knowledge of law but issue of milling will not bring the price of mealie meal down, WHY?! because we have vigayozi nowadays and people who cultivate their maize easily go to the chigayo and meal their maize. I have done it before when I lived in Bwacha in Kabwe. So these millings will be just used to gaya the maize just like any other chigayo. Mate this is Zambian politics, and these vigayozi will be just used to meal maize and distrbute to people almost free at a loss to the food reserve agency. The so purpose is to appease the the would be voters. problem this is not a sustainable solution.
PLEASE SPARE US THE AGONY FROM THE HOLLOW PROJECTS THAT HAVE NO FUTURE. IN THE FIRST INSTANCE THESE ARE NOT MILLING PLANTS BUT HAMMER MILLS. FROM EXPERIENCE POPULIST POLICIES HAVE ALWAYS FAILED. THIS HAMMER MILLS PROJECT IS ANOTHER WAY OF STEALING PUBLIC FUNDS AND A WASTE OF RESOURCES WHICH IS DOOMED TO FAIL. IT IS JUST INTENDED TO HOODWINK THE PUBLIC. WHERE ARE THE 5000 JOBS CHANGWA PROMISED THE NATION NOT LONG AGO?
—-and this will make my lovely country food sustained. See example mr president, a farm owned by a person who has a tractor compare to our sister/brother in the village using a hoe. The production of tractor is enormous and imagine we start will 4000 tractors loaned to our dear brothers/sisters and they pay maize to GRZ in 4 to 6 years and tractor is there’s, the GRZ will sale the maize to neighbouring countries or supply locally so that the price is reduced.
am at work boss just passed by i close.
how many bags does this solar plant produce a day ?
Is there enough sunlight in the rainy season for it to work ?
This solar plant can do 11 bags a day, but does not work when there are clouds.
Or at night.
This is the way to go, not threatening to repossess milling plants! Though four months seems too ambitious for setting up 2000 “milling plants.”
Where did the money come from and how did they select the supplier for these mills?
Don’t stop at milling plants, get machinery to increase plantation hectors.The hoes will not be sufficient to feed the mills, we need a lot of grain to ensure maximum utilisation of capacity in those mills. And government should take active part to ensure the mills and all other inputs are taken care of rather than dropping everything at the cooperatives.
Thank you
Please don’t lie the Unza record in Law is very clear ‘distinction’ granduands are very very few we can count them off the one hand. Even meritious students are few the majority are Credits and then a few Pass and of course in rare cases fails. ECL didn’t score a distinction!
Why not just diversify and find a new ‘staple’ food…cassava, sweet potato which are more nutritious than maize…what’s this obsession with uwali? Its like copper and now we cannot think beyond it..
What type of business economics will help reduce mealie prices for these solar powered milling companies? FRA buys maize from farmers at K75. Are you telling me that after processing and adding all transport and other costs the mealie meal will be sold at less than K75? Where in the world? Has chakolwa reintroduced subsidies on mealie meal or maize? Useless initiative! These plants will be for villagers who have their own maize and only need to grind it. It was the same in KK days.
PF is talking about impowering youths, this was a chance to empower some of them to form maintenance companies to maintain those Mills. Unfortunately the contracts have been given to companies belonging to ministers.
I hope this works out for PF, but knowing how cadres behave it may just be another failed project. Remember Chiluba also tried this project in the early 1990s on the same account to reduce mealie meal price, it didn’t work out because they ended up with cadres and some ministers and some ended up in court over the same hammer mills.
What kind of economics is this?. How will installing milling plants(hammer mills) help reduce meal price? we already have enough milling plants across Zambia. You keep on exporting maize to Malawi and Zimbabwe. Were will the maize to feed the solar mill come come from?. You will just create unnecessary competition with the existing milling plants. or you want them to shut down too? useless initiative!.. But i guess its global, even in Kenya and UK, they are installing milling plants!