Chief Mukonchi advises subjects against selling maize

Chief Mukonchi advises subjects against selling maize
By Jack Zimba and David Chibwe
Sunday April 27, 2008 [04:00]

CHIEF Mukonchi of Kapiri has called on the government to quickly intervene in the marketing of maize to avert a looming hunger situation in some parts of the country. Chief Mukonchi urged his subjects not to sell their maize to dealers who had started buying the commodity in his area, saying it was too early to start selling the grain.

“My concern is that it is too early for my people to start selling the maize at a very low price to these dealers. They are buying maize at a very low price of K2,000 per 5-litre container,” he said.

Chief Mukonchi said Kapiri was expecting a bumper harvest of maize and advised the government to buy the grain from farmers in his area to take to parts of the country that were adversely affected by floods.

“Government should come in quickly so that it buys this maize and take it to affected areas, instead of letting the dealers buy the commodity for export,” he said.

Chief Mukonchi vowed to chase the dealers from his area because they were taking advantage of the flood situation to buy the maize at a low price. Meanwhile, the Food Reserve Agency (FRA) in Serenje has started selling maize to the vulnerable people in district. FRA district supervisor Richard Mukelebai disclosed that his office was selling maize to vulnerable people at K40,000 per 50 kg bag.

Mukelebai said that the reason to sell the maize bought from farmers in the district last season was to make food available and affordable to families that didn’t have. But a survey by ZANIS revealed that many residents were not aware that FRA was selling the maize at the depot near the civic centre. Alex Ngosa, a carpenter near the depot, expressed ignorance, saying the programme was not known by many people due to lack of publicity.

Ngosa however appreciated the decision by FRA to sell the maize back to the local people, saying that would reduce the hunger situation in the district, adding that the FRA price was much lower compared to the prices offered by traders at the market.

Traders at the market sell the maize at between K4,000 and K5,000 per gallon.