By Prisca Lumingu
OPPOSITION Citizens First (CF) leader Harry Kalaba has urged government to release strategic reserves of maize to address the shortage and exorbitant prices of mealie meal being experienced in some parts of the country.
Mr. Kalaba says the government should take the reports on the shortage of mealie meal in some parts of the country seriously and release cheap maize from the reverses to improve the availability as this would help to stabilise the prices of the commodity.
Mr Kalaba said he was aware that the erratic supply of mealie meal has triggered a sharp increase in the prices in areas such as Nakonde where a 25kg bag of mealie meal was now fetching above K200.
Mr. Kalaba said it is for this reason that the Ministry of Agriculture through the Food Reserve Agency (FRA) should engage stakeholders and release maize to the millers at a cheap price in order to caution mealie meal prices. He said government should ensure the millers who will access the maize from FRA pass the benefits to consumers by supplying mealie meal at reasonable prices
