STOP SMUGGLERS

IT would indeed be not only a shame but an unmitigated disaster for Zambia to experience a shortage of maize in the foreseeable future all because the country failed to secure its staple food.

But that could happen if Government does not take drastic steps to ensure that smuggling was nipped in the bud.

The grim warning by Ministry of Agriculture Permanent Secretary Songowayo Zyambo should be a chilling reminder of the harsh consequences that could befall the country.

Mr Zyambo has warned that the country’s food security is at risk because of rampant smuggling of maize.

What is even more worrying is that this maize is produced at great cost to the government’s coffers because the bulk of the produce is under the subsidised Farmer Input Support Programme (FISP).

This maize should ideally be bought by the Food Reserve Agency (FRA) which is responsible for looking after the country’s strategic food reserves.

However, there are unscrupulous Zambians without any conscience who would rather sell the maize illegally in neighbouring countries and deny their own people food.

The more reason why these unscrupulous scoundrels should be treated harshly. As Mr Zyambo noted, they are getting the maize at ridiculously low prices from the vulnerable farmers.

They are actually helping neighbouring countries improve their food security at the expense of Zambia. Would it not be strange for Zambians to begin trekking to neighbouring countries to buy maize?

Mr Zyambo said because most countries in the East African region did not produce much maize, there was a ready market for the commodity. Moreover, some also had to contend with ravaging locusts

He said if the rampant smuggling continues, Zambia’s national food security would be under threat despite the bumper harvest that was recorded in the last farming season.

“Unscrupulous traders are buying our maize cheaply from farmers when it was produced at high cost under the Farmer Input Support Programme especially in the northern part of the country and exporting to Tanzania while some maize pass through Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC),” Mr Zyambo said.

He said Government was spending colossal sums of money through FISP and that it was not right for outsiders to come and buy it cheaply and smuggle out of the country. We agree.

At the rate the maize and mealie meal are being smuggled out of the country, it won’t be long before the country runs out of the staple food.

Just recently, the Zambia National Service (ZNS) intercepted a smuggler with about 1, 500 by 25-kg bags of mealie meal on the Copperbelt which was on its way into neighbouring Congo DR. The driver abandoned the truck and escaped.

A few months ago, ZNS also intercepted trucks that were about to smuggle maize into Malawi.

There is no way Zambia could achieve food security when smuggling is so rife.

This, as Mr Zyambo noted, is however being addressed at the highest level. “A team of defence, security and other key stakeholders has been constituted at Cabinet Office to curtail smuggling of maize out of the country,” he said.

What is even more baffling is why people do not want to trade legally because the government has not banned genuine trade with the neighbouring countries. There is in fact an undertaking to export maize to Congo DR.

The bottom line though is that smuggling must be curbed otherwise all the hype about producing a bumper harvest would count for nothing.