By PRISCA LUMINGU in Lundazi
THE Food Reserve Agency (FRA) has urged Zambians to stop panic buying of mealie meal as the country was food secure with maize strategic reserve stocks currently standing at 300, 000 metric tonnes.
Kelvin Hambwezya, the FRA board chairperson says there was no need for the hullabaloo over the shortage of mealie meal as the current stock of maize would last to the next harvest season.
“When we say do not panic, this is what we mean. There is no need for the hullabaloo as we have sufficient maize stocks to last the country up to the next harvest season,” Mr Hambwezya said.
Mr. Hambwezya said this when he laid a team of FRA officials and the media to check on the current stock of maize in Lundazi and Lumezi Districts of Eastern Province.
He said the Lundazi FRA depot complex alone had 32, 000 metric tonnes of maize in reserves.”Here where we are standing we have 32, 000 metric tonnes of maize. The reason is to show you that as FRA, we have sufficient maize stocks to last the country up to the next harvest season,” he said. Mr. Hambwezya said the agency had started moving maize from areas where there was surplus and taking to areas where there was a deficit in order to address the mealie meal shortage in areas like Lusaka and Copperbelt province.
And FRA Lundazi depot complex marketing manager Rainford Phiri said the depot was dispatching on average 15 tracks per day to Lusaka with each track carrying about 30 metric tons per day.
And Lundazi acting District Commissioner Mukule Banda said the district was food secure as it had been receiving about 600 by 50 Kg bags of maize from FRA per week to address the local demand and it was sold at K200 per bag. Mr. Banda also indicated that the district has not witnessed the issues of smuggling in large quantities as the Zambia National Service officers are on high alert in boarder areas.
“We haven’t seen much on smuggling, not in large quantities, the ZNS officer are on high alert to ensure that the district is food secure,” Mr Banda said.
And a check at one of the milling plants, Katundu milling which has been receiving maize from the agency revealed that the plant had enough maize in stock to produce mealie meal for the local market.
Katundu milling proprietor Dr Martin Mtonga said the company had been a beneficiary among millers who have been buying cheaper maize from the Agency and last week alone it received 400 metric tonnes.
Meanwhile Lumezi District commissioner Jimmy Phiri said the district had over 10, 000 metric tons of maize in reserves.
Mr Phiri said the district had enough maize and working with FRA it would start transporting some of the commodity to areas where there is a deficit in order to address the mealie meal shortage in areas like Lusaka and Copperbelt.
