Zambia Consumers Association (ZACA) Executive Secretary, Juba Sakala has welcomed the reduction in the price of mealie meal, describing the move as a positive development for consumers.
Mr Sakala said maize meal remains a staple food for most Zambians and any reduction in its price, brings relief to households, especially in ensuring food security.
He however, expressed concern that the price reduction has not been uniformly implemented across all townships, urging that the development should benefit all consumers.
“The reduction of maize meal from K300 to about K220 in some areas is quite encouraging to most consumers. As we know maize meal is a staple food in Zambia, so if the staple food is affordable then we know that each and every Zambian at least will not go to bed hungry,” Mr Sakala said.
Mr Sakala urged that retail outlets in townships should also reflect the reduced prices to ensure that ordinary consumers directly benefit.
“So, we hope that this pronouncement will trickle down to the townships because these are the people who feel the pinch, they buy maize meal day in, day out. Whether in Pamela form, 1kg, so if the prices are just pronouncements, then that won’t help,” he said
He further called on millers and government to invest more in infrastructure that promotes value addition in the maize.
“Let’s see that we have outlets which are in the townships providing or selling those maize meals at that price that they have said, that will really help,” he said.
Mr Sakala said improving value addition in maize production could also encourage increased agricultural activity among farmers and reduce over-reliance on subsistence production.
He added that with proper infrastructure and deliberate policy support, more farmers could be encouraged to engage in maize production and related industries such as stock feed manufacturing.
“Besides that, we also want to urge millers and government let’s try at times to invest in infrastructure which will help us in value addition because most of the times maize is just not for feeding but we can also add value,” he said.
Zambia should emphasize the need for balanced diets. Not by Nshima alone should Zambians live, but by “Food Diversification ‘” . Potatoes, Rice, cassava, vegetable. I can’t even eat Nshima more than twice a week. The Zambian Nutrition Commission and Ministry of Agriculture ought to educate our people. Forget about staple… Food Diversification is the key. The healthy needs cannot be met through Nshima alone — some diseases can even be prevented. The Founding Father of the nation was a vegetarian and lived a long life.