COMMENT - Solar is the way forward. - MrK
(LUSAKA TIMES) Installation of six solar powered hammer mills completed in Solwezi
January 3, 2018
The installation of all the six solar powered hammer mills for Solwezi district under the Presidential empowerment initiative to local farmers has been complete.
The hammer mills were installed last month and are expected to be operational as soon as the Zambia Cooperative Federation trains operators.
Acting Solwezi District Commissioner Christopher Nyungila has confirmed the development to ZANIS in Solwezi today.
Mr Nyungila said the hammer mills have been strategically located in areas with high maize productivity and population.
He named the areas to benefit from the solar powered hammer mills as Kakombe, Kyafukuma, Mbonge, Sandang’ombe, St Francis and Zangamenu.
Mr Nyungila said the hammer mills will not only create employment for the local people but will also provide a readily market for farmers to sale their maize and also lower the cost of mealie meal.
Meanwhile, Mr Nyungila says government has topped up e-voucher cards for 3,550 farmers out of the 3,934 who have deposited their K400 contribution for the 2017/2018 farming season.
He said 4,380 farmers have been authorized to deposit the K400 contribution out of the targeted number of 5,780 farmers in the district.
Mr Nyungila said the redeeming of inputs has been relatively slow because most farmers are giving incorrect national registration card numbers and passwords thereby being rejected by the system.
He has since appealed to farmers to ensure they submit correct details to agro dealers and redeem their inputs.
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Labels: MANUFACTURING, MEALIE MEAL, MECHANIZATION, SOLAR ENERGY
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Mealie-meal shortages are unacceptable - Haabazoka
By Gift Chanda in Lusaka and Misheck Wangwe in Kitwe
Tue 27 Nov. 2012, 08:50 CAT
COPPERBELT University business lecturer Dr Lubinda Haabazoka says it is unacceptable to have mealie-meal shortages in a country which recorded a bumper harvest last farming season.
And some millers in Lusaka have called on the government to investigate the mealie-meal and maize bran shortages on the Copperbelt.
Almost all towns on the Copperbelt have been hit by a serious mealie meal shortage, a situation attributed to rampant smuggling of the commodity into the Democratic Republic of Congo where there is huge demand. But Copperbelt based millers promised when they met agriculture minister Emmanuel Chenda last Saturday that normal supply of mealie meal is expected to resume today.
In an interview, Dr Haabazoka questioned the shortage of mealie-meal in some parts of Copperbelt and an increase in the price of the commodity after recording back-to-back bumper maize harvests.
He said the mealie-meal situation, if not quickly addressed, could force the country's annual inflation to rise and potentially erode the country's economic gains recorded in the past.
The shortage of mealie-meal on the Copperbelt has persisted over the past one week with residents travelling to Ndola in search of the commodity.
The government has attributed the shortage to some millers who have been accused of hoarding maize stocks in a bid to force the Food Reserve Agency to offload maize at a subsidised rate.
"Being a staple food, increases in mealie meal prices can trigger an increase in the prices of other essential goods as most traders, especially small scale, would want to compensate their increased family feeding costs," Dr Haabazoka said.
He said the shortages exposed lapses in the country's distribution mechanism of its staple food.
Dr Haabazoka urged the government to ensure food security taking into account that the country still had no serious rains, almost a month into the rainy season.
Demand for Zambian produced mealie-meal has lately increased in DR Congo forcing traders to smuggle the commodity from Copperbelt through the porous Kasumbalesa border post.
Dr Haabazoka noted that the demand for Zambian mealie meal and other goods and services by Congo DR had been underestimated by the government and the private sector, rendering current maize distribution strategies ineffective.
"We cannot afford to ignore Congolese demand for our products so it is in the best interest of government and the private sector to ensure that when optimising the amount of goods produced in Zambia, we consider demand from that country," he said.
"There is need though to engage with Congolese stakeholders to ensure that goods are not smuggled into that country but use the correct channels so that government is not robbed of income."
George Konidaris, managing director of APG Group of Companies - the millers of APG mealie meal - wondered what could be causing the shortages of mealie-meal and maize bran on the Copperbelt.
Konidaris, however, advised the government to ensure smuggling was quickly addressed.
And African Milling Company Limited financial controller Ismail Lunat said the company had enough maize and bran stocks for the Lusaka market.
A check at African Milling and APG milling plant in Lusaka found production of mealie-meal in full swing with trucks waiting to transport the commodity within Lusaka.
The two firms were however reluctant to exploit the Copperbelt market at the moment where demand has far outstripped supply.
Labels: LUBINDA HABAAZOKA, MEALIE MEAL
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Mealie meal shortage: Vice President accuse Millers of Blackmail
TIME PUBLISHED - Friday, November 23, 2012, 1:27 pm
Vice president Guy Scott has accused millers of blackmail in view of the shortage of mealie meal that has hit the Copperbelt.
Dr Scott during the vice president’s question time in response to a question by Mafinga Member of Parliament, Catherine Namugala who wanted to find out government’s position on the mealie meal shortage, said millers ignored the advice given to them to buy maize for themselves on the open market up until the end of December when the FRA would supply them with maize in the second half.
Ms Namugala told the House that mealie-meal prices on the Copperbelt had gone as higher as K75, 000 making it difficult for the locals to purchase the commodity.
Dr Scott said that the millers thought they were clever and left the Food Reserve Agency to buy all the maize as has previously has been the case in the past with all the corruption and maize wastage involved.
He says unfortunately the millers’ blackmail seems to have some effect into forcing government into directing FRA to release maize earlier than planned in order to bring down mealie meal prices down.
The Vice president disclosed that the situation has further been compounded by the mechanical outage at Mpongwe milling which has been down for seven days.
“Mpongwe milling has be down for past seven days which has aggravated the situation because it is the largest milling and supplier of mealie-meal on the Copperbelt, but by next week the situation will normalise, “he said
Dr Scott also said South Africa had stopped supplying the commodity to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a situation which had caused severe demand of mealie-meal from Zambia into DRC.
The Vice President has assured that the escalating prices and shortages of mealie meal on the Copperbelt will normalise by next week.
The Vice President said Agriculture and Cooperative Minister Emmanuel Chenda would next week issue a comprehensive statement on various issues such as mealie-meal shortages.
And United Party for National Development (UPND) Nangoma MP Boyd Hamusonde wondered why there had slow distribution of the farming inputs under Fertiliser Input Support Programme (FISP). In his response, Dr Scott said Government inherited a system that was full of corruption.
He said the Patriotic Front (PF) Government found FISP marred with high corrupt practises and that it was cleaning up FISP distribution exercise.
Dr Scott said the Government would promote transparency and accountability in the manner farming inputs were managed for the benefits of several Zambians farmers.
Labels: BOYD HAMUSONDE, CATHERINE NAMUGALA, FISP, GUY SCOTT, MEALIE MEAL
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C/belt mealie-meal shortage worsens
By Misheck Wangwe in Kitwe
Wed 21 Nov. 2012, 14:10 CAT
THE shortage of mealie-meal in some parts of the Copperbelt worsened by midday yesterday, which Zambia Consumer Association attributes to smuggling of the commodity into the DRC. Serious shortages were recorded in Kitwe's town centre, Buchi, Chimwemwe, Cha Cha Cha and Ndeke townships.
A check revealed that depots for major millers such as Olympic, Antelope and Mpongwe milling within the town centre ran out of the commodity by 12:00 hours yesterday and were only supplying flour which was readily available.
In Shoprite Kitwe, people scrambled for the few stocks that were on the shelves after word went round that the chain stores had Antelope mealie-meal.
In Chisokone area, there was serious commotion at various depots as some traders had taken advantage of the situation and created a black market where prices of the commodity had been inflated to K60,000 per 25 kilogramme bag of Breakfast meal.
And in Chingola, the shortage was serious with only selected shops having the commodity while in Chililabombwe, the situation was worse as consumers blamed the millers that had been supplying mealie-meal to Kasumbalesa where the commodity is always smuggled into Congo DR.
No official position has been given yet by the Millers Association of Zambia over the shortages.
The Zambia Consumers Association (ZACA) said the smuggling of mealie-meal to the Democratic Republic of Congo through Kasumbalesa border had greatly contributed to the shortage of the commodity on the Copperbelt.
Association executive secretary Muyunda Ililonga said the shortage of mealie-meal on the Copperbelt was unacceptable.
He said there was need for urgent interventions from stakeholders, that included the government, to reverse the situation.
Ililonga said there was need to tighten border controls to stop smuggling activities on the Congo border and ensure that the larger population on the Copperbelt was protected from the looming hunger as a result of mealie-meal shortages.
Vice-President Guy Scott learnt on Saturday when he abruptly visited Kasumbalesa border that more than 2,000 bags of mealie-meal and numerous goods from Zambia are smuggled into Congo DR daily.
Labels: COPPERBELT PROVINCE, FOOD, MEALIE MEAL
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