ZNS mealie meal is distorting market, says Dodia
Private Sector Development Association chairperson Yusuf Dodia has said that the decision by government to offload Zambia National Service produced mealie meal on the market is distorting the economy.
Speaking in an interview, Dodia observed that offloading ZNS produced mealie meal on the market is not a sustainable solution, adding that the move will discourage commercial farmers from growing maize.
“When you have a government entity engaging with the commercial business sector, you will have a situation where you distort the economy. When FRA is offering a floor price of K280 per bag of maize they are looking at it from a producer’s point of view where a farmer gets a good price because of the cost of production, and ensure that they grow more maize.
On the other hand you have Zambia National Service producing maize and in their case the farming inputs are coming from government, which is tax payers’ money, and they are selling mealie meal at a lower price.
We had such arrangements in the late 70s and in the 80s,” Dodia explained. “And the private millers will hold on to their stock until Zambia National Service stock runs out. This is not sustainable.
The commercial farmers will also stop growing maize because they will feel that Zambia National Service is undermining the reality of the cost of production in the agriculture sector by having the price of maize that is politically set and it’s not for commercial purposes… http://dailyrevelationzambia.com/zns-mealie-meal-is-distorting-market-says-dodia/