Q FM Africa's Modern Radio
Agriculture Minister Dora Siliya says government is reluctant to allow the export of Maize because it wants to safeguard jobs for the local people.
Ms Siliya says allowing the export of maize will mean creating milling jobs for people in other countries, while Zambians will not have jobs.
She adds that if government is to allow the export of maize now, there is a possibility of the maize stock running out as evidenced by the demand government is receiving in the region.
Speaking when DRC 
Ambassador to Zambia Mayele Ebokwol Ghyor and his Angolan counterpart Balbina Malheiros Dias da Silva paid a courtesy call on her today, Ms. Siliya said government will continue to allow maize exports in what she termed as a measured manner responding to government to government requests.
Responding to the requests made by the two countries for the Zambian government to consider selling them maize, Ms. Siliya assured them that government will look into their requests and will respond to them as soon as possible.
She noted that the requests for maize by the two governments is an indication that maize has a high demand while the Zambian farmers are not taking advantage of this demand.
And the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has requested the Zambian government to supply about 100, 000 metric tons of Maize while the Angolan government has requested for 20, 000 metric tons of Maize.