Dodia calls for master plan to effectively manage maize value chain

Economic analyst Yusuf Dodia says Zambia needs to come up with a master plan to effectively manage the Country’s maize value chain in order to sustain lower mealie meal and maize prices.

Mr. Dodia says the Food Reserve Agency (FRA), Millers, Grain Traders, and the Zambia National Farmers’ Union (ZNFU) should take lead in formulating this master plan.

He has told Qfm News that these stakeholders should agree on how each bumper harvest recorded annually will be apportioned.

Mr. Dodia is suggesting that the master plan should provide the FRA, Millers and Grain Traders with a share of the bumper harvest each.

He explains that the FRA’s share should be for ensuring food security in the Country while the allocation for Millers should be for production of mealie meal and other maize related products.

Mr. Dodia states that the remainder of the maize harvest should be left for Grain Traders to store and later sell some to millers and export the rest.

He notes that these allocations should also be accompanied by a threshold mechanism to guide how much of the harvest will remain in the Country and how much will be exported.

Mr. Dodia believes that having such a value chain will enable Zambia to not only to have stable and lower prices for maize and mealie meal but also sustained food security.