Mealie meal shortage gets out of hand in Kabompo

—Kabompo District commissioner, Dennis Kanyakula has called on Antelope and Olympic Milling companies to open depots in the newly created Manyinga district to avert mealie meal shortage that has hit the two districts.

Mr. Kanyakula said there is a shortage of mealie meal stocks in Kabompo and Manyinga districts for a week now and the situation is getting out of hand.

Mr Kanyakula said this in an interview with ZANIS in Kabompo today.

According to a random survey by ZANIS, people in the two districts have resorted to buying   maize from unscrupulous grain dealers on the black market at KR 60 per 20 litre tin while a 50 kilogram bag of mealie meal is now selling at KR 180.

The Food Reserve Agency (FRA) off loaded 2000 by 50 kg bags of maize on the market to enable the people buy maize at KR 60 per bag last month which has also finished.

Mr Kanyakula described the situation is not good as people are made to scramble for the mealie meal wherever it is available.

The mealie meal shortage has resulted in the commodity being sold at KR 75 for a 25 kg bag instead of the government directive to sell a 25 kg bag at not more than KR50.

Mr Kanyakula has since urged the FRA to supply more maize on the market for people to buy and to revise the system of selling the commodity so that unscrupulous traders are curtailed from accessing as they are the ones reselling on the blackmail.