NIGHTMARE OF FOOD INFLATION.
By Charles Kakoma, Senior Citizen.
The high cost of living in Zambia has become a topical issue. It is also a serious issue worldwide.
In the United Kingdom right now, workers are protesting against the high cost of living and are demanding for increased salaries. If in developed countries, people are complaining about the high cost of living, one can imagine the situation in poor countries like Zambia.
In Zambia, people are sensitive about food prices. They will probably complain less about the high prices of clothes or beer but when prices of food go up, it becomes a rallying point for de-campaigning government.
The UNIP government of President Kenneth Kaunda experienced food riots in the 1980s. One can also argue that the Patriotic Front Government of President Edgar Lungu was booted out of power in 2021 partly because of the unbearable high cost of living, especially high Mealie-meal prices.
Expectations were high that the UPND government will reduce the high cost of food. But people are now complaining about the high cost of food in general and Mealie-meal in particular.
Can something be done about food inflation? The answer is yes.
The UPND, while in opposition, planned to bring down the cost of food. In terms of agricultural policy, it was decided to do away with subsidies on consumption and channel the money to subsidise production. It was correctly analysed that Mealie-meal was expensive because of the high cost of inputs like seed, fertiliser and weed killer.
The solution,therefore, was to lower the cost of these inputs to produce cheap maize. This appears not to have happened in the manner it was envisaged.
Out of the over 3 million farmers in Zambia, only 1.2 million are being assisted under the Comprehensive Farmers Support Programme, popularly known as FISP. The irony of the matter is that 1.2 million farmers are getting subsidised inputs at K400 for 6 bags of fertiliser while the 1.8 million plus farmers are buying fertiliser at an average of K1000 per bag. After harvesting, all the farmers are expected to sell their maize to the Food Reserve Agency (FRA) and millers at the same recommended price regardless of the costs incurred. How do the unsubsidised farmers compete with the subsidised farmers?
The policy direction should be to bring down the cost of inputs for all farmers. This can be achieved by cutting off middle men in the supply chain, producing the inputs locally in the country, curtailing corruption in the award of tenders for the supply of inputs and progressively increase the number of small scale farmers accessing FISP.
The success of the UPND government will depend on putting food on the table; cheap food for that matter. Specific interventions are therefore needed in the agricultural sector to drive down the cost of food.
For example, the favourite relish for many people in Zambia is chicken. The rising cost of chicken is making it difficult for many families to have chicken and nshima at the table. The chicken is becoming expensive because of the high cost of maize stock feed. In order to bring down the cost of chicken, there is need to bring down the cost of stock feed. In the short-term, FRA should supply cheap maize to millers to produce cheap stock feed. Similarly, many children like eggs. The cost of eggs can come down by producing cheap stock feed from FRA maize.
Economic prosperity should be driven by agriculture. Countries like Indonesia and the Asian Tigers leaped from poverty to prosperity through agriculture. They had to embark on the agrarian revolution which later supported their industrial revolution.
Zambia is blessed with soils and climate suitable for the production of food crops like wheat and rice. Zambia is already producing wheat used to make bread. With the war in Ukraine, which produces wheat, one would wonder what would have become of Zambia if we were not producing our own wheat. Let’s face it. Children of nowadays prefer bread to porridge or kandolo for breakfast.
We need increased wheat production. Growing wheat appears not to be complicated. Some villagers in Western Province are already growing wheat. They just need government support. Some government institutions like the Zambia National Service (ZNS) also grow wheat at a small scale.
There is need for government to fund Institutions like the ZNS and Zambia Correctional Service, and instruct them to achieve desired production targets.
Similarly, Zambia can become self sufficient in rice production. Local people already grow rice. There is Mongu rice, Nakonde rice, Chama rice and Zambezi rice. The local people already have some knowledge and skills about rice production. All they need is a helping hand from government. Rice is becoming an important food item in homes to supplement the staple food, nshima.
Sunflower and soya are very easy crops to grow in Zambia. There isn’t any good reason why cooking oil is expensive when sunflower and soya are easy to grow within 3 months.
With concerted efforts,Zambia can have cheap bread, rice and cooking oil quickly as these crops get ready within 3 months .
In conclusion, the starting point for bringing down the cost of living should be tackling food prices. It can be done and it should be done. Money should be found. The priority should be to put affordable food on the table and kick out hunger.