By NATION REPORTER
GOVERNMENT should consider limiting export permits of mealie meal to cooperatives which are beneficiaries of the Farmer Input Support Programme (FISP), Kankoyo Member of Parliament Heartson Mabeta has said.
Mr Mabeta said between 2021 and 2023 Zambia exported over 800,000 metric tonnes of mealie meal to Congo by exclusively giving export permits to milling companies.
He said one metric tonne of mealie meal was 1,000 kg and with the current price of mealie meal at the border of K300 per 25kg and wholesale price of K180 in Zambia, the gross profit per 25kg of mealie meal is 120 kwacha per bag.
Mr Mabeta said Zambia could earn K3.8 billion because K120 by 32 million bags of 25 kg mealie meal is equivalent to that figure.
He said Katanga province with a population of 20 million people imported an average of 10 million by 25kg bags of mealie meal per year.
“If the 3.8 billion gross revenue is directly earned by the peasant farmers, it will encourage the farmers to grow more to earn more,” he said.
Mr Mabeta said using the increased CDF from K1.6 to K25.7 and K28.3 million, constituencies could increase the number of tractors with a ploughing disk, planter, sprayer and maize shellas to increase crop production.
He also said there was need to grade gravel roads and build small bridges to improve accessibility to production areas.
