Maize dealers have hiked the price of maize in Kabompo by more than 30 per cent.
A check by ZANIS today found maize dealers of Musamba market selling a 10
kilogramme container of maize at K20,000 from K15,000 last month.
Musamba Market Chairman, Kennedy Samba told ZANIS that the increase in maize price
has a negative impact on the low income group.
He said in Kabompo that most maize fields along the Kabompo river have been
submerged in water and the maize in stock has started rotting which is un fit for
human consumption.
Mr. Samba said government should come in and off-load some of the 22786 by 50kg bags
of food reserve agency FRA maize which is lying in the Kabompo depots on so the
market for the general public to buy to avoid being exploited by the unscrupulous
maize dealers in the district.
ZANIS
I still cant see the very point of having the whole FRA enterprize. Its a ridiculous and costly parastatal entertained by those who dont understand how best to make such markets efficient, productive and keep prices down.
For too long, the welfare of the rural poor has been sacrificed by a desire to suppress the price of maize meal in order to benefit urban people. Under the circumstances of the past, the price of maize was not an issue for the rural community because only lazy people would ever need to buy maize. But incompetence and politics have destroyed a robust agro system and caused massive rural poverty. At the same, politicians are happy to transfer more poverty from urban to rural areas by pleasing urban poor(many of whom are engaged in criminal activity including corruption) with low mealie meal prices or raw material costs.
Presumably those who think their K20,000 is worth more in terms of other goods it can buy, will choose not to buy, while those selling at K20,000 understand that it doesnt cost any less anywhere in the vicinity. Why would anyone want the FRA to meddle into such a desirable system. Some of those who have no maney at all will have to ba cared for anyway.
What is this maize crises gona mean in the next few months? What are the people gona eat?