Mon, 20 Feb 2017 13:21:57 +0000 By BENNIE MUNDANDO Government decision to subsidize the price of maize sold to millers is no guarantee that consumers will benefit from such a move, the Economics Association of Zambia (EAZ) has said. And the Zambia National Farmers Union (ZNFU) has described contracts which Government has signed with the Food Reserve Agency (FRA) and Grain Traders Association of Zambia (GTAZ) to reduce price of mealie meal as an ‘‘economic scandal which some individuals are using to defraud State coffers’’. EAZ president Chrispin Mphuka said short-term interventions to bring down the price of mealie-meal were only exacerbating the problem as there was no guarantee that giving millers subsidy would automatically trickle down to the consumers.Dr. Mphuka said either milers will maintain the prices and make huge profits or retailers will continue to exploit the consumers by maintaining the retail prices as there was no proper monitoring mechanism in place. “We […]
