Q FM Africa's Modern Radio
Minister of Agriculture, Michael Katambo, has refuted claims that government has reintroduced price controls on maize.
Mr Katambo has noted that where grain is concerned, Zambia has a liberalised economy and market; hence farmers have the right to sell as they wish in situations where they find a better market.
The Minister has however, stated that government has had to engage millers and other stakeholders on the escalating price of maize, adding that it is a matter of great concern knowing that maize is the country’s staple food.
He has told journalists in Lusaka today that government did not dictate to the millers, manufacturers or the Grain Traders Association of Zambia with regards to the price of maize, but that it was a measure of engaging each other in trying to find a solution to stabilize the purchase of the country’s staple food.
Mr Katambo adds that the meeting therefore overwhelmingly decided that a bag of maize was to be bought at K130 which should see the price of roller meal ranging between K80 and K90 and breakfast from K100 to less than K115 which is affordable to all Zambians.
He observes that people have been complaining about the escalating prices of mealie- meal, and it was the mandate of government to engage players in the maize sub sector, in order to put a stoppage to the situation and bring about an amicable solution.
Zambia National Farmers Union (ZNFU) President, Jervis Zimba, in a statement issued in Lusaka yesterday, accused the Minister of Agriculture of reintroducing price controls on maize.
Mr Zimba further claimed that Mr Katambo met with Stock feed Producers, Millers and Traders and threatened or coerced them to impose the price of K130 per 50kilogram bag of maize with full support from the Food Reserve Agency (FRA), done on the basis of price controls.