(DAILY MAIL) State secures K200bn. for maize
State secures K200bn. for maizeGOVERNMENT has secured K200 billion from a commercial bank to enable the Food Reserve Agency (FRA) buy excess maize from farmers country-wide. Mr Mwanawasa said he held a meeting in Lusaka on Thursday with representatives of a bank he did not name, who agreed to loan K200 billion to Government to enable FRA buy excess grain from farmers around the country.
He urged farmers to continue working hard and produce more maize in the next farming season.
President Mwanawasa was speaking yesterday when he addressed hundreds of Chipata residents who welcomed him at Chipata Airport. Mr Mwanawasa arrived in Chipata yesterday on his way to Katete to attend today’s Kulamba traditional ceremony of the Chewa people at Mkaika.
The President was responding to concerns raised by Eastern Province Minister, Lameck Mangani, that farmers in the province were still stuck with maize. He assured the farmers that the FRA would buy all their excess maize following the acquisition of the K200 billion.
Meanwhile, President Mwanawasa commended members of Parliament (MPs) for passing the National Constitutional Conference (NCC) Bill in Parliament. He said it was gratifying to note that most MPs from the opposition overwhelmingly supported the bill. The President said this signified the fact that they were ready to put national interest above their partisan inclination.
He said that the only time and resources available to Zambians was to work together in developing the country as squabbles, unconstructive arguments and unnecessary criticism would not take the country anywhere.
Mr Mwanawasa called on Zambians to support him in the remaining four years of his tenure of office so that he could leave behind a better Zambia.
He said the people who were criticising him now over the constitution were themselves responsible for the mess, which his government was trying to correct concerning the principal law of the land.
The President called on his critics to give him space to govern as mandated by the people of Zambia in 2001 and the renewed mandate during the 2006 elections.
Meanwhile, Mr Mwanawasa has commended the people of Eastern Province for supporting him and the ruling MMD during the 2006 elections.
Mr Mwanawasa said he was happy that the people in the province had shifted their support to the ruling party which he observed had not performed well in the province in 2001. - ZANIS.
posted by MrK @ 4:31 PM
1 Comments:
COMMENT - Excuse me, but wasn't there a recent article that said maize was sold by minister Kapita, because he didn't know what else to do with it? Wouldn't this $50 million be better spent to expand the state's storage capacity, or convert stored maize into maize products (like meal, crackers, bourbon, etc.)? In the US, pretty much everything people eat nowadays has corn in it - from sugar (from corn syrup) to lemonade, etc. And how is this a responsible loan? Even the state should borrow only to make more money than they are borrowing.
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