Authorities on the Copperbelt are worried about the rising cost of mealie meals and have asked the Millers Association of Zambia (MAZ) to look into the cost of the basic food.
It is unacceptable, according to Ndola District Commissioner JOSPEH PHIRI, for a 25 kilogram bag of breakfast mealie meal to cost K195.00 instead of K145.00.
Speaking while inspecting the Food Reserve Agency storage in the industrial sector of Ndola, Mr. PHIRI said the area still has enough maize stocks and questioned why millers have raised mealie meal pricing.
Despite having a liberalized economy, he claimed that it is wrong for the millers to take advantage of Zambian consumers.
The K50.00 increase imposed by the millers, according to Mr. PHIRI, is unreasonable.
But according to Andrew Chintala, president of the Millers Association of Zambia, prices will soon normalize as a result of negotiations with the government to make available existing grain inventories in FRA warehouses close to milling businesses.
Mr. CHINTALA praised Agriculture Minister MUTOLO PHIRI for helping millers who had to travel far distances to retrieve the grain, a situation that caused mealie meal prices on the Copperbelt to rise.
He said that because to the minister’s assistance, millers on the Copperbelt and in other areas may now receive grain close to their facilities, which will lower prices.
According to Mr. CHINTALA, the Millers Association is
