THE Food Reserve Agency (FRA) has done well to release more maize to millers to ensure adequate supply of mealie meal on the market.
In yesterday’s edition, we carried a story of Economist Emmanuel Zulu commending the FRA for releasing cheaply priced maize to millers to help cushion the escalating prices of mealie-meal in the country.
Mr Zulu said in an interview with Millennium TV that the move would help to stabilise the price of mealie-meal on the market.
This move follows a public outcry against the high price of mealie meal. Government has taken deliberate steps to intervene in bringing the prices of mealie meal down amidst complaints from the public.
While noting the positive steps taken by FRA, we also feel that only sustainable policies will stabilise the price of mealie meal.
We note for instance that the government has through the Zambia National Service (ZNS) started producing cheaply priced mealie meal. This however, is yet to spread to other provinces so that all Zambians can benefit.
We also agree with Mr Zulu that the powers that be must act to actually call on millers and see how best they can agree on a reasonable price.
“We know that we are living in a free market economy and the forces of demand and supply are supposed to dictate the price but there are certain exemptions that need to be considered, especially when it concerns the staple food,” Mr Zulu said.
He said there were times when it was not possible for market forces to dictate commodity prices, which required Government’s intervention to ensure that citizens had access to the staple food at reasonable and affordable prices.
As Mr Zulu said, “the intervention is actually within the Act. If you check the Act, it is actually in conformity with the Competition and Consumer Protection Act, which actually exempts certain conduct where it concerns social and non-commercial benefits.”
Because government cannot continue intervening, it is important that other steps are taken to ensure there is enough maize supplied to stabilise the price.
One of the ways is to ensure that the whole agricultural marketing season is well planned. The kind of hiccups witnessed in the last marketing season, where fertiliser could not be delivered on time, should be avoided.
This is what is actually leading to all the current price issues. The country’s has had two succeeding seasons where the supply of fertiliser and agro inputs has been anything but straight forward.
When the marketing season is well coordinated, farmers have no issues with doing their part to ensure the nation has food security.
Now we are tottering on the brink of a national food shortage as mealie meal shortages persist. It is to be hoped that the FRA will have enough stocks to last up to the harvest time, around late July to August.
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