Don’t sell products to briefcase buyers, Kapiri DC tells farmers
Written by Isaac Zulu in Kapiri Mposhi
Saturday, June 27, 2009 3:35:59 PM
KAPIRI Mposhi district commissioner Cosmas Musumpuka has advised farmers in the area not to sell their produce to briefcase buyers.
In an interview yesterday, Musumpuka explained that he was aware of briefcase businessmen that had entered the district and were currently buying maize cheaply.
He advised farmers to exercise patience and sell their maize to the Food Reserve Agency at a better price.
“I have heard reports of briefcase businessmen that are buying farm produce at very low prices,” Musumpuka explained. “This is to the disadvantage of our small scale farmers who toil for their produce. I would advise the farmers to exercise patience and ensure that they sell their maize to FRA at a good price.”
He observed that it was difficult to convince the farmers to hold on to their produce until the Food Reserve Agency starts buying their maize, saying most small-scale farmers are forced to sell their produce at low prices due to poverty.
“I know it’s difficult to convince them to be patient; and it’s because of poverty,” he observed. “You know for our small-scale framers, this is their annual income and not monthly income, and they would want to meet daily needs and pay fees for their children.”
Musumpuka further attributed the problem to the delay in payments experienced by farmers in the past when they sold their maize to the Food Reserve Agency, but was quick to note that the FRA had this year promised to pay farmers cash on delivery.
Last week during the District Agricultural and Commercial Show, Kapiri Mposhi district agricultural show chairman, Fredrick Musonda bemoaned the shortage of FRA depots to allow farmers sell their produce easily, saying this had resulted in many farmers falling prey to unscrupulous buyers who were buying agricultural produce at very low prices.
Labels: AGRICULTURE, KAPIRI MPOSHI, PRICING
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FRA to announce maize floor price
Written by Nchima Nchito Jr
Thursday, May 07, 2009 3:25:30 PM
ZAMBIA National Farmers Union (ZNFU) has recommended a maize floor price of not less than K85000 per 50 kilogramme bag this marketing season. The Food Reserve Agency (FRA), through the Minister of Agriculture and Co-operatives, is today expected to announce this year’s floor price of maize.
According to a statement, ZNFU indicated that a consultative meeting was held with the FRA and other stakeholders to discuss the floor price of maize for this marketing season.
“The ZNFU, together with other stakeholders met with FRA on Wednesday April 22, 2009 to discuss the parameters to be used in determining this year’s FRA floor price,” read the statement in part. “The Union is of the opinion that the price of maize should not be less than K85,000 per 50 kilogramme bag, while others are indicating the price as low as K55,000 per 50 kilogramme bag.”
ZNFU appealed to all stakeholders to submit comments on floor prices of maize to the union.
The government last year set the floor price of maize at K50,000 per 50 kilogramme bag. But farmers now contend that production costs had gone up during the last farming season, and that a good price for the crops was therefore expected.
And when reached for a comment, agriculture minister Dr Brian Chituwo said a final decision would be communicated by the FRA later in the week.
Labels: FRA, MAIZE, PRICING, ZNFU
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Imported maize to roll in
December 31, 2008
The Food Reserve Agency (FRA) says the imported 110 metric tonnes of maize will start arriving in Zambia next month. Executive Director Anthony Mwanaumo says the agency is this week expected to complete the signing of three contracts to facilitate the importation.
Dr. Mwanaumo said one contract has already been signed while the other remaining two will be signed by the end of this week. He was speaking in an interview with ZNBC news in Lusaka, Wednesday.
And Dr. Mwanaumo has appealed to millers that have accessed from the agency to pass on the benefits to consumers by reducing mealie-meal prices.
He said millers who have not yet reduced mealie-meal prices should emulate their contemporaries who have reduced the prices of the commodity to acceptable levels.
And National Milling Corporation says it will soon reduce mealie meal prices in line with the reduction in maize prices by the Food Reserve Agency (FRA).
Managing Director Peter Cottan said his company submitted a letter recommending a reduction in mealie meal prices to the minister of Agriculture, Wednesday.
Mr. Cottan explained that national milling delayed in reducing the price of mealie meal because the old contract it had with the Food Reserve Agency has expired.
He also told ZNBC that his company will start buying subsidized maize from FRA starting Wednesday.
Mr. Cottan said national milling will announce a reduction in mealie meal prices after getting a feed back from government.
The Food Reserve Agency last week announced a reduction in maize prices from 63 thousand Kwacha to 55 thousand Kwacha for a fifty kilogramme bag.
Chimanga Changa Milling Company became the first Company last week to reduce price of its Mealie Meal following the reduction in the cost of Maize from FRA.
[ZNBC]
Labels: MAIZE, MILLERS, PETER COTTAN, PRICING
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Zambia Sugar management denies exporting cheaply
By Joan Chirwa and Mwala Kalaluka
Tuesday June 10, 2008 [04:00]
ZAMBIA Sugar Plc corporate affairs manager Lovemore Sievu has dismissed assertions that the company had been exporting sugar cheaply compared to the commodity’s pricing on the local market. And workers at the company have expressed fear that they might lose their jobs following the pending completion of the expansion of the Zambia Sugar Plc factory in Mazabuka.
Sievu said it was incorrect to say the company had been inflating prices of sugar on the local market while exporting the product cheaply, saying Zambia Sugar Plc did not cover transportation and other export related costs.
Consumers and other stakeholders have argued that Zambia Sugar Plc had been exporting sugar to the Great Lakes Region and the European Union (EU) at much cheaper prices when the same product was expensive on the local markets.
Last week, Zambia Consumer Association (ZACA) alleged that Zambia Sugar had been selling its sugar at around K1,200 per kilogramme on the export markets while overcharging local consumers.
“It cannot be true that Zambia Sugar sells its sugar here at very high prices and exporting at cheaper prices. The fact is that the company does not cover export costs.
The people that buy the sugar are the ones that cater for transportation costs, handling costs, taxes and other costs related to product exports,” Sievu said. “As far as the company is concerned, exported sugar is not cheap at all. The price that we use to export is dependent on the price of the commodity in a country that is buying sugar from us.
For example, if we sell a tonne of sugar at US $365, that does not mean it is the actual price of the commodity when the product arrives in a particular country, say Burundi. Adding up transport costs, taxes and handling fees that the buyer incurs, the actual cost could sometimes come to around US $950 per tone.”
Sievu said the local price of sugar was cost reflective as the company had adopted a standard pricing mechanism for the country.
And workers talked to yesterday said the company management decided to lay off some of them over the last two months in view of the reduced production of sugar, which they attributed to the expansion of the Mazabuka factory.
“There was total confusion in the expansion programme, especially that the old factory was dismantled and was being renovated at the same time that we were constructing the new factory,” the source said. “But now things are normalising.”
The sources said operations in most of the production yards had become mechanised and as such the personnel that were manning the installations would be irrelevant, especially in the Cane Yard.
However, Sievu said on the contrary, more employment opportunities would be created due on the expected bulky increase of the commodity.
“The only ones who could be affected by that are those in marketing but we are not looking forward to laying off any people,” said Sievu.
Labels: INFLATION, PRICING, ZAMBIA SUGAR COMPANY
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Scarce goods resurfacing
Herald Reporter
Goods which have been scarce have started coming back onto the shelves, as a sub-committee of the Cabinet Taskforce on Price Monitoring and Stabilisation is now working with industry to see how everything can be restored to normal and how viable pricing formulas can be created to ensure viability.
The sub-committee, comprising Cabinet ministers and business leaders, will ensure goods are available on the market on a sustainable basis.
The sub-committee will identify shortages of basic commodities and other essential goods and devise mechanisms and strategies to ensure their availability in the shortest possible time on a sector-by-sector basis.
Sources close to the Cabinet taskforce said the sub-committee seeks to work out a coherent short-to-medium term macro-economic recovery package as an integral component of the ongoing price stabilisation measures.
They said the sub-committee would determine appropriate pricing models for essential commodities that would guarantee business viability and affordability of the commodities for consideration by the National Incomes and Pricing Commission.
The sources said the sub-committee would ensure that costs are genuine and that there is no "padding" of costs throughout the value chain.
The sub-committee will also agree on smooth implementation of three protocols signed by the social partners — Government, business and labour — with particular focus on the Incomes and Price Stabilisation Protocol and the Foreign Currency Management Protocol.
It will identify the obligations of the two main social partners — Government and business — on pricing and see how these stakeholders’ obligations can be made enforceable.
The sub-committee will also facilitate the establishment of the public-private sector mechanisms to resolve pricing conflicts and create a platform for the provision of sectoral production plans.
The sources said it would develop and oversee implementation of a coherent short-to-medium term macro-economic stabilisation policy framework anchored on the principles of self-reliance, empowerment and preservation of national sovereignty.
The formation of the sub-committee — which comprises leading businessmen from industry and commerce — comes a week after President Mugabe met the business leaders.
Government has reiterated its position that there is no going back on the war on prices and has urged manufacturers to supply goods to retailers, failure of which they risk having their businesses taken over by the State.
The supply of goods in shops has significantly improved with most outlets in Harare now receiving stocks from manufacturers.
Most goods, particularly basic commodities, had disappeared from shelves following the Government’s crackdown on errant businesspeople.
Supply has also been outstripped by demand as the majority can now afford to buy after Government directed all manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers to freeze price of goods and services to the pre-June 18 levels.
In a snap survey in the central business district yesterday, most supermarkets had stocks of goods including maize meal, margarine, bathing soap, washing powder, shoe polish and toilet paper.
TM, OK, Spar and Friendly chain supermarkets were among shops where goods were readily available.
A manager at TM, who declined to be named, said the supermarket chain was receiving supplies but because of panic buying the goods were quickly running out.
"People are still hoarding goods so once we put products on shelves they quickly run out. As you can see, today we had maize meal but it has already run out," the manager said.
An official in the buying department at OK Zimbabwe said they had placed orders as usual and supplies had started to improve.
"Although the supplies are still erratic, our suppliers have promised to deliver more products soon," the manager said.
He, however, noted that the supply of cooking oil, sugar, and Mazowe Orange Crush was still erratic.
Other supermarkets, including Batanai, Gutsai and Food World, had stocks.
Meanwhile, a Kadoma-based company, Macsherp (Private) Limited, has started distributing 25 tonnes of mealie-meal and 20 dozen loaves of bread per day in the town to avert hoarding, which is creating shortages.
The mealie-meal and bread are being distributed in the town’s 15 wards and sold at the Government-recommended prices.
Bread is being sold at $22 000 a loaf and 10kg of roller meal is going for $41 000.
Macsherp managing director Mr Clifford Mukungunugwa said by taking the products to the wards, the company was trying to eradicate hoarding by flooding the market.
Labels: PRICING, THE HERALD, ZIMBABWE
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Only holistic framework can stabilise prices in Zim - Gono
By Kingsley Kaswende in Harare
Wednesday July 18, 2007 [04:00]
RESERVE Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) governor Dr Gideon Gono is convinced that only a holistic framework can stabilise prices in the country, without inducing shortages in the market. Dr Gono said the country’s ongoing price reduction blitz must avoid the law of unintended consequences.
Dr Gono, the principal advisor on the economy, was understood to have criticised the price cuts in the country after he wrote to minister without Portfolio Elliot Manyika, who was then acting as chairperson of the cabinet taskforce of price stabilisation and controls, that it would create shortages in the market.
“Advice that is being given by me should not be misconstrued as opposition to the current price stabilisation measures that seek to cushion consumers against the unbridled profiteering we have been witnessing through daily and in some cases hourly price increases. That madness needed to be dealt with decisively,” he said.
The government directed that all prices be reduced by up to 50 per cent and then be frozen in a move criticised by the opposition MDC as an election gimmick.
Prior to the order, prices of commodities had shot up by over 300 per cent in a matter of days and the government said it would step in to cushion the consumers.
According to the government, this was the work of elements trying to use economic pressure to ensure an illegal regime change.
But, in what seems to be a reversal of fortunes, consumers that enjoyed the price cuts are now grappling with shortages of basic food products, which supermarkets have failed to restock adequately claiming that they no longer have reasonable returns in their businesses.
Dr Gono’s advice was that the price reduction should take a holistic approach and not crate shortages.
“To the extent that inflation control is the core function of the central bank and, therefore, of this governor, it is important that the nation realises that apart from attending to consumers’ plight, there is need to attend to the production side to avoid the emptying of shops without replacements the next day,” he said.
Dr Gono said it was important that the cost of any business be covered in the consumer’s final price paid, with an allowance for a “reasonable” profit margin.
He said the current price blitz needed to put more focus on the empowerment of the majority of people through a broad-based small and medium business development programme with roots in local ownership at the grassroots level.
Dr Gono had written to Manyika that a “holistic package of measures that would uplift the general supply of goods and services in the economy” was needed.
“I write to make recommendations on the ongoing efforts meant to stabilise prices in the economy,” Gono stated. “It is our strongest conviction that only through a holistic framework can we stabilise prices, without inducing shortages in the market.”
Dr Gono is one of a few people in the country who are close to, and have direct access to the president. He is touted by some as President Mugabe’s choice as heir apparent. But Dr Gono said he had no political ambitions and that he was not in bad books with some cabinet ministers and senior ZANU-PF members.
“I am not a politician, but a technocrat and practical governor of the central bank whose duty is, among other things to give advice to the government in its various forms and I’m doing exactly that without fear or favour. I do not hold any political ambitions either. As governor I hold an apolitical office in the land and I have no enemies in ZANU-PF, MDC or any other political party,” he said.
Labels: GIDEON GONO, PRICING, RBZ
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I’m not against ongoing price blitz — Gono
By Victoria Ruzvidzo
RESERVE Bank of Zimbabwe Governor Dr Gideon Gono says he is not against the ongoing price blitz, but that the exercise should take a more holistic approach that addresses the supply side while avoiding unintended consequences. In an interview yesterday, the central bank chief said it was unfortunate that his advice had been taken in the wrong context. He called for soberness and sustainability in the whole process.
"An unfortunate impression has been created suggesting that the governor is working at cross-purposes with Government . . . nothing could be further from the truth.
"Advice that is being given by me should not be misconstrued as opposition to the current price stabilisation measures that seek to cushion consumers against the unbridled profiteering we have been witnessing through daily and in some cases hourly price increases.
"That madness needed to be dealt with decisively," he said.
But mechanisms that would ultimately lead to inflation reduction and improved production capacity had to be adopted in the process.
"However, to the extent that inflation control is the core function of the central bank and, therefore, of this governor, it is important that the nation realises that apart from attending to consumers’ plight, there is need to attend to the production plight — what we call the supply side — to avoid the emptying of shops without replacements the next day."
It was important that the costs of any business be covered in the ultimate price that a consumer paid, with allowances for a "reasonable" profit margin.
However, most businesses had abandoned this in their pricing formulas.
Dr Gono said what had happened in the last few weeks was a clear indication that trust between the Government and business had broken down.
This needed to be mended urgently through revisiting the social contract.
He said business had betrayed the social contract framework as it began to increase prices outside the agreed framework.
Three protocols on pricing and incomes stabilisation, productivity enhancement and foreign currency were signed by the three social partners on June 1, but they have not been implemented with partners counter-accusing each other of reneging on commitments made.
"It’s not too late for us to go back to the framework of understanding, a framework of tolerance, a framework of accountability to one another as espoused in the Protocol on Pricing and Incomes Stabilisation.
"There is need to reconvene soonest, take stock of what has happened and, as partners, recommit ourselves to it by observing and following elements of the protocols signed with each partner being in full control of their constituency," said Dr Gono.
It has been argued in various fora that whereas Government has full control of its constituency — be they ministries, the central bank and parastatals — in terms of policy implementation and compliance, and labour — comprising the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions, the Zimbabwe Federation of Trade Unions and the Apex Council — is equally in control of the labour force, business leaders appear to be the weakest because they do not seem to have leverage over their membership, hence the need for them to demonstrate that they are in full control.
"The lesson business must learn from the current blitz is that no business can ever thrive and make a profit in a environment of antagonism with the Government; and from Government’s side, the lesson arising from the current shortages is that no Government can hope to fulfil the aspirations of its citizens, especially labour, civil society and the generality of the populace, in an environment of serious conflict such as it has with its business community; and the lessons for labour are that when Government and business are fighting, the workers become the grass that suffers when two elephants fight."
The current blitz needed to put more focus on the empowerment of the majority of the people through a broad based small and medium business development programme with roots in local ownership at the grassroots level.
Growth points would be turned into manufacturing hubs, be it oil processing, milling, baking, meat processing, fruit and vegetable drying and other such businesses.
This strategy would deal with issues such as the current conflicts, scarcity and high inflation which would breed antagonism."It was President Mugabe who has often reminded this nation that ‘We are all witnesses to the futility of trying to turn around our economy in an environment of pointless conflict’," said Dr Gono. The business community would, in this instance, be challenged to come up with mentorship and smart partnership proposals to allow for the transfer of knowledge and technology while incubating entrepreneurial skills.
Meanwhile, Dr Gono yesterday refuted speculation that he had political ambitions and was not in good books with some Cabinet ministers and senior members of Zanu-PF.
"I am not a politician, but a technocrat and practical governor of the central bank whose duty is, among others, to give advice to the Government in its various forms and I am doing exactly that without fear or favour. I do not hold any political ambitions either. As governor, I hold an apolitical office in the land and I have no known enemies in either Zanu-PF, MDC or any other political party." He said he had "excellent" personal and working relations with the entirety of the Presidium, including the often-quoted Vice President Joice Mujuru and Minister of Rural Housing and Social Amenities Cde Emmerson Mnangagwa.
He said all Government ministers remained his seniors and "I have the privilege to advise them individually or as committees or taskforces and when that advice differs from the conventional, it should not be viewed as adversarial".
Labels: GIDEON GONO, PRICING, ZIMBABWE
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