‘FRA may fail to buy enough maize’

FOOD Reserve Agency (FRA) might fail to buy enough maize because farmers are selling their produce to millers and other private sector players at better prices, Zambia Consumer Association (ZACA) executive secretary, Juba Sakala has observed.

And ZACA has challenged FRA to come out in the open and pinpoint the millers who bought maize at subsidised prices to control escalating mealie meal prices as per understanding with the agency.

Mr Sakala wondered how FRA would manage to buy enough reserves considering

that farmers were opting to sell their produce to private sector buyers for as much as K150 per 5okg of maize.

This he said would affect the flow of maize and subsequently the prices of mealie meal might continue to remain high.

Mr Sakala accused millers of not being sincere saying they had failed to reduce the price of maize even after FRA offloaded maize to them following an agreement with the agency. “The confusion on the market is between the millers who are not sincere because they have bought maize at reasonable prices from FRA but want to store the maize for future use but this is not justifiable when it comes to consumers,” he said. He supported President K85-K90. This he said was meant to control the price of mealie meal and to deter some greedy people from exploiting consumers in the country.

Mr Sakala commended President Lungu for the move to control the price of the staple food in the country, saying ZACA would keep supporting government on this as it was aimed at safeguarding the welfare of the people.

“What the President is trying to do is actually the right move and he must be supported in his quest to control the price of mealie meal to mitigate the high prices. People are getting maize at a reasonable price but they want to sell mealie meal at a higher price which is not fair,” he said.