(TIMES) No meal exports — State

No meal exports — State
By Times Reporter

THE Government will not issue any export permits for maize and mealie meal until the food situation in the country stabilises, Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister, Brian Chituwo has said.

Dr Chituwo said the export ban for maize and mealie meal was meant to ensure that the citizens had enough food for consumption. Speaking in an interview in Lusaka yesterday, Dr Chituwo said that whoever exports maize or mealie meal, would be doing so illegally and if caught would face the law.

“We are not giving export licences. We have put in place measures to ensure that our population has enough food for consumption. We have put in place serious measures to protect our people,” Dr Chituwo said.

He said that the Government was putting in place measures to ensure that cheap mealie meal was available to the rural dwellers.

The minister said that many critics had complained that mealie meal at the reduced price was only available in urban areas.

Dr Chituwo said that the Government was discussing with millers in rural communities on possibilities of availing them with cheap maize so that they could in turn sell mealie meal at a lower price.

And police yesterday warned that the service would not allow the subsidised maize to be smuggled out of the country.

Zambia Police Service spokesperson, Bonny Kapeso said the police, with other security wings at the borders, would ensure that the maize was not smuggled.

Mr Kapeso said in Lusaka yesterday that the policewould not allow traders to export maize and mealie meal meant for Zambians.

“We cannot allow that to continue and we need the support of the Zambian people to ensure that we stop the scourge,” he said.

President Rupiah Banda on Tuesday urged Zambians living in border areas to be vigilant and ensure that the subsidised maize and mealie meal were not smuggled to other countries.