Shoprite Zambia and Food Lovers Market, the South African chain stores, have protested the move taken by the Government banning the importation of some fruits and vegetables and are seeking lifting of the ban.
Food Lovers Market has cited inconsistency in supply and compromised quality of produce by local farmers as some of the reasons it is agitated over the ban.
Food Lovers Market Levy Mall Junction manager Obrian Mangimela lamented the tendency by local farmers to supply once and thereafter go to ‘dance’.
“The challenge we have with local farmers is, today they supply us and tomorrow they gone to ‘dance’. As we speak, the shelf for eggs is empty because our local suppliers have not delivered. If as a supermarket we are inconsistent in stocking certain products, we risk losing customers,” he said.
Mr Mangimela has appealed to Government to pressurise local farmers to supply consistently good quality products.
Shoprite Zambia general manager Charles Bota said he would only comment if he was told who had availed the author the information on the matter.
Small-Scale Farmers Union president Frank Kayula said the restriction is good and long overdue.
Dr Kayula said the association had been advocating a ban to give preference to local farmers to supply the produce.
“In fact, we should have a Statutory Instrument (SI) that will give even up to 30 percent preference for local produce,” Dr Kayula said.
He has proposed that the Zambia Bureau of Standard (ZABS) develops a scale of standards that local farmers should meet in the production and distribution of various produce.
Zambia Consumer Association (ZACA) executive secretary Samuel Simutanda welcomed the move and called for a co-ordinated system to enable farmers to supply produce consistently.
Government banned the importation of some fruits and vegetables to promote production and grow the market for local farmers.
Ministry of Agriculture permanent secretary Julius Shawa named the banned agricultural produce as tomatoes, onions, carrots, mangoes, potatoes, pineapples, lemons and watermelons.
Mr Shawa said in an exclusive interview with the Zambia Daily Mail that the ban follows numerous concerns by local farmers that the imported produce had a negative impact on their business.
“Just recently, we received complaints from farmers that some tomatoes from neighbouring Tanzania were being imported cheaply, hence under-cutting our farmers.
“Our concern as a ministry is that lets us encourage the sourcing and supply of these products within the country, so we have imposed an administrative restriction for now,” Mr Shawa.
He said the country has capacity to produce and constantly supply fruits and vegetables to satisfy local demand.
Mr Shawa added that most farmers in Chibombo, Chisamba and Mkushi, among other areas, are growing most of the fruits and vegetables that some foreign supermarkets are importing.
He said Government wants to promote local production and supply of agriculture produce to fill the shelves.
“The chain stores are being lazy to source from the local market. Those products that we have restricted are readily available locally,” he said.
The permanent secretary has challenged local farmers to take up the challenge by producing more and ensuring a constant supply of the agriculture produce in the chain stores.
“We are telling our farmers, ‘here is the market’. They should produce and supply all the requisites. We want to make our own farmers rich,” he said.
Mr Shawa has challenged Shoprite and Food Lovers Market to demonstrate the inability of local farmers to supply the produce whose importation has been banned.
“We have agreed as a ministry and together with our counterparts at Commerce to meet them to listen to their concerns.
“The two supermarkets need to demonstrate to us that the products are unavailable or they are inadequate locally,” he said.
[Zambia Daily Mail]
I can’t believe there can be a break in egg availability. It’s a lie and an excuse to buy from South Africa where Shoprite come from.
Government should not lift the ban. End of.
Thanks
Bb2014,16
Go for locally produce non Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) vegetables.
Buy Zambian, talk Zambian and eat Zambian rich foods
Zambia has a large capacity for egg production. I have a friend who ends up throwing away eggs because he can’t sell all of them. Similarly we don’t need to import vegetables. Maybe fruits like apples and grapes since we don’t produce much. This will open up opportunities for our small farmers. We just need to make ensure the produce quality and consistently. Govt make sure you keep the chinese out of this business. It is environmentally friendly to buy local and cheaper.
Back into UNIP era.
By the way LT, can you please report about the presidential petition, AU, UN, SADC, Commonwealth,EU & others are in the country to witness how visionless Lungu’s con~court PFudges will deal with the matter.
Bandit Chulu’s declaration of blind Lungu as president was quashed by the filling in of the presidential petition. The con~court failed to legitimise the presidency, so visionless Lungu & PF bandits are illegally, unconstitutionally & fraudulently in power. Until the petition is heard & power to the speaker, PF remains in power illegally.
The Skeleton Key
~206~
Zambia has a lot of those fruits and vegetables, it’s just that shoprite want to promote south African farmers and our poor Zambian consumers are brain washed to think good fruits and vegetables only come from south Africa. I grow beautiful tomatoes which end up rotting because Local producers are not given priority, this is not good for the economy. Which of those produce are I see in the shelves are not readily available through out the season? This is a lie. Good move.
About time. Long overdue.
And the construction of new malls should stop. ZAMBIANS want Jobs. We want factories that add value and pay meaningful salaries not peanuts.
“…Obrian Mangimela lamented the tendency by local farmers to supply once and thereafter go to ‘dance’.”
Mr Mangimela IS RIGHT ZAMBIANS HAVE PARTYING ATTITUDE WHENEVER THEY HAVE SOME LITTLE MONEY IN THEIR POCKETS. HOWEVER, THIS IS NOT TO SAY THE GOVT SHOULD REVERSE THE BAN. SUPERMARKETS HAVE THE RESPONSIBILITY TO EDUCATE THEIR SUPPLIERS ABOUT STANDARDS REQUIRED BOTH IN QUANTITY AND QUALITY IN ORDER TO MEET DEMAND. IF A SUPPLIER IS GIVEN CHANCE TO IMPROVE AND THEY ARE NOT OBLIGING THEY MUST BE STRUCK OFF THE SUPPLIER LIST. ROME WASN’T BUILT IN A DAY. ZAMBIAN SUPPLIERS WILL LEARN, TOO. ZAMBIA HAS NEVER USED THEIR FARMERS FOR SUPPLYING SUPER MARKETS. THIS IS NEW TO THEM AND THEY DESERVE BEING GIVEN A CHANCE TO LEARN.
“…Shawa named the banned agricultural produce as tomatoes, onions, carrots, mangoes, potatoes, pineapples, lemons and watermelons.”
IMPORTING THE ABOVE FARM PRODUCE IS AN INSULT TO OUR FARMERS AND ZAMBIANS AT LARGE. BANNING OF SUCH SILLY IMPORTATION HAS BEEN LONG OVERDUE. THE GOVT MUST NOW IMPOWER FARMERS ALONG THE LINES OF FOOD PRESERVATION WHETHER DRY OR GREEN AND EVEN GROW MORE TO SATISFY DEMAND. REALLY, HOW CAN WE BE IMPORTING MANGOS AND PINEAPPLES WHICH, BY-AND-LARGE, ONLY GO TO WASTE? CONGRATULATIONS GOVERNMENT FOR BANNING THE IMPORTATION OF THESE PRODUCE. FARMERS ARE SOME OF THE GENUINELY RICHEST PEOPLE IN THE WORLD. WHY CAN’T WE MAKE OUR FARMERS RICH, TOO, SO THAT WE EVEN MAKE FARMING VERY ATTRACTIVE BUSINESS TO THE YOUTH WHO MORE ENERGETIC.
Yes, thats a good move! Eat Zambian fruit! It’s sweet and organic. If you want South African food move there. If Shoprite is not happy, close up and leave. We will reopen Mwaiseni and ZCBC, bye!
Great move by the government.
@skeleton – do you understand the role of the electoral commission? Really? Results are brought in and counted, they are tallied and Justice Chulu read out the tally. Did you expect him to count all votes personally, REALLY? Next you’ll expect the chairperson of the examinations council to mark every script by every candidate, right?
A system was set up. UPND claimed that they had supporters at every polling station. Up till today, you mean that they have failed to do their parallel tabulation? Just shouting doesn’t make your sentiments correct.
get reliable local suppliers and also set the standards. if these shops really have CSR, they should work with the community to put guidelines. Well done Government, let them buy from local people.
What we need is a ‘restriction’ of same sort such as import quotas, at the moment we do not have the capacity to satisfy the demand by the entire market. Prices will start going up to the disadvantage of the very zambian consumer you are trying to save ba PS. Change the strategy before ist to let.
The argument that “South African companies just want to enrich their compatriots. Most vegetable produce in Zambia is world class” must be contextualized, no research has been done that our veggies are of world class, it leaves the argument to mere hearsay. The fact is that a system of building capacity among our growers must be put in place then provide mere ‘Industry infant protection’ by instituting import quotas for a specified period of time to allow the growers match up with big SA producers and even be able to export. That is the prudent economic way to go, not mere bans.
Shoprite, Food Lovers, Game, and Pick n Pay connive to keep black owned Zambian companies out of their supply chains. Even when Zambian companies are listed, they are given very small orders which are difficult to service. How can you supply an order of K200 to Mansa from Lusaka and then the shop managers blame you for so-called low strike rates? This is disguised anti-Zambian discrimination using Zambian manager stooges.
@Namaloya
I totally agree. In addition, they will deliberately delay payments simply to discourage you knowing it will affect your cashflow as a small farmer. It happened to me so I left them and went ‘dancing’ with money made from Soweto Market.
Is an egg a fruit or vegetable. Listen carefully the late president Mr levy Mwanawasa tried and it failed and I can assure you this will fail. You buy a farm land today and you think you’ll manage to feed the nation. Fruits are climate based and in zambia we don’t have favourable climates for most fruits. The best you can do is to choose those grow in zambia eg mangos and wild fruits. But fruits like grapes where do you get them in zambia.
You Bemba man I don’t care where you stay and where you are based as at now but the thing is a handful of people like you can cause a lot of poverty in the Country. Let me tell you a story;
When white people took land away from the indigenous Zimbabwean farmers over 90% of them were not farmers and it took atleast 20 years for them to become Commercial Farmers (this is what they don’t tell you) but when Mugabe took back the land after UK failed to honer the agreement they made with the Zimbabwean government of compensating Zimbabwe or repatriating the white english immigrants back to England, the west threatened Mugabe with Sanctions and have hence destroyed the economy of Zimbabwe. This is the what Shoprite is trying to do with the Zambian government because they know that they are…
You should have chosen a better example. I have grown grapes here in Zed before my man. Talk about something really exotic like cherries
Spot on mate, They should have just imposed quarters in consideration with the fact that we can’t afford to refrigerate for a long time in this country due to power issues.
Some of these crops are seasonal. then there is also the cost of capital in the short term and long term. That’s why a tomato can still be affordable in Northern Zambia after traveling all the way from the Cape. We need to clean up our act to succeed. It will be embarrassing when we have to reverse this.
Food Lovers market Manager is right. After sales the issue of dancing is true. Zambians we forget that we r in business on a day to day basis and pleasure takes a big role in our activities. Nobody is denied celebration but we dont know the limits. A gentleman engaged as a subcontractor wanted to get his dues in order to commnce work on the day the main contractor was partially paid and the guys told to see the account bcoz they were taking the next flight to Jobek.
Many foreign companies invest in our country bcoz we r dancing -Dununa Reverse of something
Well done! The only ones to cry are Hungry Hyena and co who happen to have an interest in Shoprite.
@ Blind 1mbecile
“Hungry Hyena” has something which Almighty has forgotten to give to the 1mbeciles like you, business acumen.
Instead of complaining about somebody smartness, risk your own money and create jobs.
@born free
Am a little bit behind here. What is an hungry hyena you are busy defending.? Please fill me in.
It is to complicated to explain to you meaning of words “monotonous ad nauseam”.
You sound like old LP.
Let me “fill you in” (LOL) :”…Instead of complaining about somebody smartness, risk your own money and create jobs…”
Do you need more clarity?
Botswana has its homegrown Choppies supermarkets,Kenya has the huge Nakumatt and Ukwala chains but Zambia is ruled by SA supermarket chains .
Whats wrong with us why can’t we have our own chains stores instead of these dictatorial SA chains imposing their rules on our Zambian marketplace?
Ask that question for the inert, incompetent and useless lazy successive occupiers of the Ministry of Trade, Commerce and Industry!!!
Close down shoprite if they think they are feeding Zambia, we want our own chain stores,period.
@5 Tumbuka Pride, and CHOPPIES HAS ALREADY ENTERED ZAMBIA. They are a few hundred metres from Spar cross roads, going o Ibex.
tumbuka pride@ it is because majority zambians are lazy hence poor, dirty and tribal.
The store chain was founded by indigenous Kenyan individuals. What about Zambians. Complaining all the time. Especially the so called educated f00ls.
So we fly Kenya Airways ,fill up petrol at Kenyan owned Kenol stations and now it turns out they have outdone our Zambia in growing some local supermarket chains too?
Big ,big shame ama Zambians lets not be lazy thinkers and being satisfied at just being lazy kantemba entrepreneurs.
We can raise these monies and make our own manje the issue is jealousy and lack of co-operation among st Zambians.
It’s time! Great move! Surely we have a lot of veggies to flood all Supermarkets. The money should stay within our borders. Period!
Close down shoprite, give Zambian farmers a chance to expand their businesses. This company is a parasite to our economy, period!
Comment:awesome decision and looking at large scale growing if the crops so I can supply SHOPRITE here in my local town. the next thing the bank will tell me is we don’t support non commercial initiatives.
Let shoprite supply what we do not have here in Zambia, maybe electronics, not vegetables and fruits. I f you politicians can not re enforce this law you have no reason to exist and mean no good for the Zambia people.
The solution is stocking two spaces, one Zambian and the other imported South Africa. In this way, the Zambian market share is guaranteed and at the same time the South African share is guaranteed. How else can consumers enjoy win win situation? Zambian produce, including eggs is very delicious but Zambian produce can not be insulated from healthy competition because competition is the basis of quality.
I hope this ban does not cover fruits and vegetables we don’t grow here like apples, grapes, etc because of different climatic conditions. Otherwise, it will be reminiscent of the Kaunda days when we stayed for nearly 30 years without the taste of apples until 1991 when MMD came into power!
I SAW SOME SMALL PNEAPPLES IN SHOPRITE FROM SOUTH AFRICA IN SOLWEZI, AND YET WE HAVE, LARGE, SUCCULENT PINEAPPLES IN THE NEXT TOWNS OF MWINILUNGA AND MANYINGA.
HOWEVER OUR PRODUCE SOMETIMES IS TOO EXPENSIVE AND IT BECOMES DIFFICULT TO BE PATRIOTIC AND BUY ZAMBIAN. MONEY IS DIFFICULT TO COME BY.
It’s high time we started believing in ourselves as a country! We believe so much in the so called IMPORTED stuff – very easy to be poisoned! This is P1 national security. We have the best ORGANIC Mwinilunga Pineapple indeed – big, succulent and sweet! We can value-add – e.g. Dry them and package like what the Umoyo guys are doing, Process and package for export. All we want is the money to remain in our economy not going to support other economies! We import even chicken manure just because it is well packaged as Lawn manure. We have been importing a lot of junk when we have all we need. Has the imported food imbalmed our minds to only believe in foreign goods? We have an opportunity to to redeem economy! Well done on this one PF!
@9.1 Did you say ‘dried pineapple ‘ ? Never tasted one! Do you have a recipe for dried pineapple?
@ 9.2 Just visit any Umoyo or Foodlovers outlet. You will be amazed how simple it is. After you taste some, go to google or bing. Readily available recipes which can earn you big cash.
We shud eat our own product. Buy Zambian product eat Zambian product & became a healthier Zambian.
This is good! goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooood!
This is good news. Please don’t lift the ban, give me just three months and there be no shortage of such. Now that you hv given me the market, I am starting farming today!
The 90 day theory?
I work in one of the supermarkets around this country and I want to agree with the manager at Food lovers market.It’s not that Zambian local farmers can not supply consistenly but I think what I have seen so far is that they are not working together.It’s true that most often we have stock outs due to the inconsistent supply and when visited by the shareholders, they get dissappointed to note that you do not have bananas, tomatoes,rape pineapples for example which are only grown mainly in Mwinilunga and when they ask people in procurement you discover that the supplier was paid on time.One thing to note is that this shops are into bussiness and customers always want to find the products readly available on the shelf.They can not therefore just list anyone whos got a small garden in…
Cornmuntu I do not believe you, may be you are just afraid to loose your piece work, shoprite is a well established company with transport vehicles, they can follow our farmers to secure their stocks. Our farmers may have not been giving priority to this company because it does not also give them priority number one, because they have their farmers in south Africa, how do I worst my time and fuel with a business which is giving me K200 a month?. This should come to an end!
Lots Lots of Zambians are lazy. I mean just look at lungu one would think he would lead by example by owning a farm from all his stolen money but the rat only buys mangoes and eats them like a crazy baboon while having a go at the sellers who are suffering due to his failures. Only hh as a leader can ensure developed local farming because he has achieved this in his personal life. Some one give me just 3 achievements of lungu and by the way stealing client money ain’t one kikik
Only a ZAMBIAN with evil intentions can side with Mr Mangimela.
“The challenge we have with local farmers is, today they supply us and tomorrow they gone to ‘dance’. As we speak, the shelf for eggs is empty because our local suppliers have not delivered. If as a supermarket we are inconsistent in stocking certain products, we risk losing customers,” he said.
This what i always say about Zambian suppliers try running a resturant in you will know what he means and they are a hyper supermarket chain.
Again on this the govt should have gradually increased duty on these products before a complete ban.
Jay Jay surely if we can’t keep small supplies consistent then how the hell do we hope to start and grow our own local chains? If you can’t manage small stuff forget building big things…our slavery to SA chains is a self inflicted wound.
Let us come up with our own shopping stores like ZAMRITE and stock them with local products. However, knowing Zambians very well, they will still be shunning such stores in preference to foreign ones
Do you have initial investment and working capital or you intend to borrow at 45% and provide assets to “cover borrowing” up to 150-200%?
jus ban the whole shoprite, they sell us cancer
ALTERNATIVELY JUST INCREASE THE DUTY OR IS IT TAX SO HIGH SUCH THAT THESE PRODUCTS BECOME UNPRIFITABLE TO SELL IN ZAMBIA.
IMEANT INCREASING DUTY ON THOSE PARTICULAR VEGETABLES. SHOPRITE EVEN SELLS CHARCOAL, ONLY THAT IT IS NICELY PACKAGED.
I agree with those that say let’s start our own Supermarket chains. We need to give competition to these South African chains. For as long as they feel we are totally dependant on them, they will continue to abuse us like us.
*this
I agree , if the Batswana and Kenyans can do it even opening regional stores in neighboring nations whats stopping us Zambians? Are we lazy thinkers?
This is amazing. Cry babies Zambians. You have a chance to make money and improve your own status and that of the country and then you fail the flood the chain stores with your produce. Honestly what do we want in this country? The problem is we are not serious with everything in Zambia. You supply and then you go to dance what sort of nonsense is that? The problem in this country is that we get satisfied so quickly and forget about consistency and that’s exactly what is agitating these chain stores owners. Quality although is very subjective needs to be enhanced as well. Too much mediocrity in the services is also bad for business. Get some samples from RSA and align your quality to those samples and enhance your own. What more do we want
They would rather pray for food and rain!!
Whenever I go to Shoprite I target to buy as much Zambian as possible, like tomatoes, potatoes and all the other vegies listed by the PS Shawa. This will now make my life easier. The list of vegies mentioned by the PS is abandant in Zambia and of very good natural quality. And this Mangimela chap from Food lovers is talking about items that are not on the list, totally irrelevant to the banned stuff. He has to be one of the ***Donkeys, the only source of nonsense.
I support the ban on those items wholeheartedly.
Coming to the claim of “inconsistent supply”, that is normal in vegetable supplies especially from small scale farmers by the nature of their size and capacity. But there is a viable way round that, it is called aggregation and that is what they do in South Africa and other developed economies. An aggragation firm can be set up to collect the produce from many farmers into one lot, then if one supplier or small farmer does not supply the large chain shops do not notice or feel it. Shoprite does have one such aggragator called Freshmark unless they mean to say that it only sources and aggregates foreign produce. But here this is an investment opportunity for entrepreneurs, including hh. This is where entrepreneurs can make a useful…
Contd…..But here this is an investment opportunity for entrepreneurs, including hh. If hh does not wish to participate he can use his “business acumen” to teach and help grow other Zambians as a mentor or role model, as they do in unselfish and developed societies. This is where entrepreneurs can make a useful contribution to the growth of Zambian agriculture and economy. We can channel the energy of petitions into something productive for our people, instead of daily in high courts breaking windows, spending nights in police cells, and crying endlessly for elections that are only coming again in 2021 according to our constitution.
Did you know that CANCER is not a disease but business like HIV? I have been wondering why Zambia has such high rates of cancer and this could be the explanation. We don’t watch what we eat! Forget about HIV related cancers. There is an even larger proportion of non-HIV related cancers. Colon cancer is now affecting younger age groups! Why? Trouble always starts with FOOD & DRINK! That’s how it all started in that garden of Eden!
Terruble thats whatvshoprite do here in lusaka for all zambian produce he buys in for shoprite pick n pay spar and food lovers. Will think of the name and let you know ….maybe you could selll donkey dung seeing as you only know about donkeys.
Start thinking all of you ,what will happen white organised farmers in zambia will take the forefront and we zambians will still miss out.
Who said to increase duty and vat on products. You are a genius. How the hell will anyone be able to eat. Your wages remain the same. Buy zambian what we can produce in sufficient quantity and quality and what we can’t supply we buy wherever it comes from. So nobody will buy botswana salt anymore, johnny walker, jameson just because it is not zambian.
Read the labels on the fruits and vegetables.
They are clearly produced in SA but have a sticker which reads ” PROUDLY ZAMBIAN” . LOL
Thats great!!!. Every farmer and people of zambia should support the move the Government is taking to ban the importation of vegetables which local farmers are able to produce. That is the move Zambian people would like to see. Support our own farmers production. We should be happy and take positive move when something good is being done, not only talking about date politics. Now farmers have a chance find customers and make money as the same time alleviate poverty.
By the way i do not belong to PF or UPND but am a zambian who love my country. Who do give positive comments when something good is being done to develop the country on the other side give negative comments when things are not ok. I love my country!!!!!!
Company that gets the produce is ROSEBLOOMS Contact them Terrible a d you may be able to do business
That food lovers so called manager is one lost guy,seems he has never visited the weekend, Tuesday and weekly local farmers markets. The only reason he wants the ban lefted is because his fellow whites in SA are only existing coz of the ready market in our country. And how the hell do you say local farms supply once and go dancing, that’s a racists and backward mind. Go back to your country
Watch the prices go up in Zambia , South Africa produces food for 60 million, making food production cheaper. Zambian only has 14 million and a large portion can not afford to shop in these big shopping centres. so really only 4 million Zambian will buy from these shops,as far as kicking out shoprite ect why , for the last 52 years Zambians could have had their own chain stores, but KK put a stop to that for the first 29 yrs. Shoprite only been here 22 years. No body stopping any Zambian from opening a chain store is there?. We don’t need to be told what to buy,eat or do by some simple public servants that we pay their salaries.
I agree to the ban. However, we should lift the ban during periods when some products, such as mangoes, are not in season in ZAMBIA.
A ban should not be implemented overnight. There is still need for capacity building and developing standards. A 12 month heads up to enable supermarkets engage local suppliers and monitor their performance can be a start.
even 8 months for the supply chain to be sorted …
even 8 months for the supply chain to be sorted …
An opportunity for entrepreneurs and farmers to thrive. It’s a move in the right direction. I hope we won’t start crying to the government to shield us again. Let’s wait and see the innovation of the Zambian businessman. Good move.
It is about time, Shoprite can eat dust
The ban is fine, but the problem we have is that the government doesn’t do it’s homework. Come up with a plan first before declaring these last minute bans like carrying out some research to identify any problems that will arise as a result of the ban, then come up with solutions. Just like Jay call Lungu Lazy, even his ministers are too lazy to do any but just throw out orders they have not adequately studied. Like someone mentioned, we have been there before in Kaunda’s time. We became malnutrition-ed during Kaunda which can become an issue now forcing unprepared farmers to feed the whole nation. I know people like 20/20 is excited without know the full implications of such hurried up bans, I don’t think local farmers will be able to supply the whole country with all the fruits and…
Ban includes apples, grapes, plums, Kiwi fruit?
The farmers need a broker with processing, packaging and distribution facilities. Its almost impossible for individual farmers to meet supermarket retail standards as regards to sorting, cleaning, packaging and labeling the products.
Government needs to spearhead setting up processing and distribution facilities before imposing restrictions.
Good idea, bad execution
If we can’t manage small stuff like consistent and quality supply of local produce to supermarket chains then i give up on Zambia.This instinctively tells me that the failure of local companies arise and to grow is not an accident,ITS A LACK OF WILL to put in hard work and diligence.
The case here should be seen in either AD-Anti dumping rules or CVD-Counter veiling duty to ensure protection or revenue enhancement for those supplies shortfall of demand or either
As Zambia enters the Global Food Market its only normal for it to be worry of rise in food imports politically especially from low cost suppliers with questions of applications of non trade barriers and laws
So Classify this in either in CVD or CvD or safeguards and see your trade policies but reading from the article its what,,
rather as either in CVD or AD or safeguards and see your trade policies but reading from the article its what
What the government should do is ban the importation of foreign fruits and vegies temporarily so that the local farmers are given a chance to prove that they are capable of supplying consistently to the supermarkets concerned. From there we can chart the way forward as a nation.
@jonathon its is not an issue for anti dumping or counterveiling it is a simple case of ability supply the market place.
The produce sold is at a higher price than local produce.
If you want yo look at anti dumping check out fish from china. Work backwards from retail to wholesale to landed cost to export price and price of same goods on the local market in the country of origin.
We have a catch 22 in poor countries like Zambia, if you impose anti dumping measures or counter veiling you increase the price to the consumer.the governmennt collects more revenue but the consumer pays more.
How do the people afford to eat fish if those measures are imposed. Catch 22
@my voice if you ban what will the people eat from shoprite whilst waiting for our farmers to catch up on growing and…
Fish from china work backwards from retail, to wholesale, to importer ,to export seller to producer. See what it costs in country lf origin if it is being sold at export lesz than on home market then case for dumping.
@my voice quality and quantity.
Now excited farmerss, shoprite pay after 30 days into bank account. ZRA will have tpin so all transactions are now taxable. ZRA wants to charge for each bank transaction. Bank charges monthly fee.
Zambia benefits by greater tax compliance.
No more cash sales
I think rather than ban the should introduce quote system. Most farmers cannot supply the much needed fruits.infact how many Zambians grow nectarines,peaches,squash or baby carrots. The problem is that you only look at maize and bananas as fruits. Also the consistency of the fruits one day its small the next big etc showing that many don’t put right water or pesticides. currently the are no mangoes in Zambia only imported ones, if I want a mango today should I wait till December to buy one, if the imported ones are there why not buy them. we have to look at the bigger picture. look at the difference between imported cucumber and local ones ,no quality at all
this is a supply chain issue which should be supported by innovative ideas and all stakeholders
Food Lovers Market has cited inconsistency in supply and compromised quality of produce by local farmers as some of the reasons it is agitated over the ban.
Food Lovers Market Levy Mall Junction manager Obrian Mangimela lamented the tendency by local farmers to supply once and thereafter go to ‘dance’.
@ Mangimela lets see what happens than been so negative and support ourselves.
Let the local private sector now come in and start the packaging business. buy from Zambian farmers an, package and resell to food lovers. As for Mangimela, he is a lost soul.
Food Lovers Market Levy Mall Junction manager Obrian Mangimela lamented the tendency by local farmers to supply once and thereafter go to ‘dance’.
Very true across the board Zambians have little business ethics. Ka little revenue- not profit yayi just ka little revenue- and they want to hold parties
May be this is the time Shoprite Management must engage NUMSA to explain the implication of its trans-boarder aggression and careless threats against other states.
Very good. We must protect our own interests. Support Zambian Farmers. We want to grow our Agric. Industry. What’s to complain about? They can’t dump their suplus on our markets preventing our own market players from competing.
Yes let the ban stay forever. In fact Shoprite & the clique were not there when our ZCBC ,MWAISENI used to stock these local items bought from our local farmers and met demand. Our farmers were there feeding this nation. Shoprite and the peers only came yesterday . Ba Some of us , why do we have short memories and easily forget this. It was because of this unfair playing field in this sector that led most of our local producers go under because multi national shops took advantage of the situation at the expense of our local farmers. And this we don’t want to reccur. Please, your EXCELLENCY BA KATEKA this ban should be upheld. As a nation, P1 is the responsibility to feed ourselves not ANYBODY.
Please lets promote our local food staffs so that many farmers can be encouraged to provide. Commitment should be a priority
Do not ban anything.Instead make it clear when you give licences to these traders or renew licences that this is what you want done-eg buy from local suppliers otherwise ,they risk breaking contractual obligations.The only issue I have with Zambian suppliers is that they are not reliable.