How you can get a 25kg bag of mealie meal at K105

Zambia and the maize crop has a special relationship. While other countries depend on rice, potatoes, wheat as their staple food, Zambia depends on Nshima, as a staple food derived from milled Maize.

The price of a 25 kilograms bag of mealie meal is said to be a political issue in that the cost of living is generally derived from the average market prices obtaining at a particular time. Forget about the price of relish, the price of mealie meal reigns as the key barometer for the cost of living.

With the current rainy season which has hyped the expectation of even a higher bumper harvest for the 2020/2021 farming season, the price of mealie meal is at it again. Most chain stores and milling companies have hiked their wholesale and retail prices which most ordinary citizens are finding unaffordable.

In the top four provinces in terms of economic activity, that is in Lusaka, Copperbelt, North-Western and Southern provinces which ZBT has conducted some spot checks, the price of a 25kg bag of breakfast mealie meal is fetching between K150 and K170 and in other areas the bag of mealie meal is selling between K135 and 140 depending on the location.

So, if you are thrift and Saving between K30 to K50 per 25kg bag mealie meal sound viable, there is a way you can fight and avoid the current high price of mealie meal. You can simply shift from buying pre-packed mealie meal at say K170 to buying maize and getting it milled at your local miller (Chigayo).

Mercy Chanda, a resident of Lusaka who has opted out of buying pre-packed mealie meal but depends on buying maize from the local market and taking it the local milling plant (Chigayo) on her own, says she is not affected that much by the current high mealie meal prices.

She says most people are not willing to check for alternatives and substitutes whenever prices increase and this is what may be causing the big millers to increase their prices without consideration on whether people’s incomes have increased or not.

Chanda considers it to be cheaper to buy maize and mill it than buying pre-packed mealie meal from shopping malls and other retail outlets which she considers to be an expensive option. There is need for checking of alternatives so that these big companies can be thinking twice before increasing their prices.

She told ZBT that she does not spend more than K105 to buy 25kg of mealie meal because she rather buys about four tins of Maize at K20 each which, when milled, is able to make a 25kg bag of mealie meal. The price of milling then maize at the Chigayo (mini-milling plant) is between K20 to K25.

She told ZBT that prices in big shops and retail outlets are proving to be rather high and that she has since stopped buying most of the things from the supermarket as they are more expensive when compared to buying of the things from the local market and corner shops within the Neighbour hood.

“I cannot remember when last I stepped my foot into a shopping mall to buy my groceries, most of the times, I just go to city market and buy what I want because the prices there are far better compared to the ones at shopping malls”, Chanda stated.

With our busy lifestyles nowadays, it is very easy to feel trapped tricky and not pay attention to what other markets or retailers are offering and at what price. One may end up making the big businesses even more richer and whilst you remain poor,” she said.

And Chanda has also encouraged members of the public to shift from shopping from supper markets to local markets like Soweto market, Chisokone market, city market etc adding that most of the things are sold at an affordable price when compared to supper markets. Buying from markets will also help to support local businesses.

“Instead of people spending a lot of money in super markets just for the sake of it, they should also be checking out the local markets and verify the prices obtaining, so that they can be able to save their monies for future use, unlike over spending. Saving culture starts from small amounts.

Zambia and the maize crop has a

Groundnut prices double within one year

The market price of groundnuts has doubled from K4 per kilogram (kg) to K8.5 per kg between 2019 and 2020. This is according to COMACO, one of the key outgrower and active buyer of groundnuts in Zambia.

Community Markets for Conservation (COMACO) confirmed that Zambia is self-sufficient when it comes to groundnuts production and has a lot of potential to export excess produce to its neighboring countries.

COMACO said there is a high demand for groundnuts due to many local peanut butter processing companies that have been set up as well as demand from the neighboring countries, adding that its outgrower farmers produced 35,000 metric tonnes last year.

COMACO Monitoring and Evaluation Manager Edward Zulu told ZBT that the market price for groundnuts increased to K8.5 per kg in the 2019/2020 farming season, up from the K4 per kg in the 2018/2019 farming season.

This increase was on the back of the high demand for groundnuts because of reduced production as well the Covid-19 induced demands as many areas needed to buy adequate food products to stock up due to uncertainty.

Zulu told the Zambian Business Times – ZBT that the production of groundnuts in the last farming season was relatively low due to erratic rainfall and the rosette disease, adding that some farmers experienced challenges on how to deal with the erratic rainfall and rosette disease.

He said these challenges can be addressed by increasing extension work and improving seed variety and breeds in order to have seed that can withstand drought spells and the local diseases.

Zulu added that increasing seed access and quality through seed multiplication,
increased training facilities, especially web based training and reporting can help increase production.

Zulu noted that despite the challenges that were faced by the farmers, 2020 was a year of growth for COMACO as it  extended its work from its core area of Luangwa Valley to communities around Kafue National Park and to reach new markets,  new infrastructure, processing lines and staff to grow the It’s Wild food brand was added.

The production of groundnuts in the 2019/2020 farming season had reduced compared to the production in the 2018/2019 farming season. According to official statistics made available to the Zambian Business Times-ZBT by the Zambia Statistics Agency-Zamstats, the production of groundnuts in the 2019/2020 farming season was 130,825 metric tonnes, down from 127,172 metric tonnes produced in the 2018/2019 farming season.

The market price of groundnuts has doubled

Honey export requires huge capital investment

Luano Honey says the demand for honey has continued to expand both locally and across the world, making honey production and harvesting a viable business in Zambia. But the company has stated that honey export market requires huge quantities which require huge capital investment.

Company Director Miit Pandoliker disclosed that his company has made its honey available worldwide through its e-commerce solution where it offers free worldwide shipping. Pandoliker said the company is hoping to penetrate the export market directly to consumers by advertising in different countries and having people order the honey through its website.

In an interview with the Zambian Business Times – ZBT, Pandoliker said the company was exporting their honey to South Africa and Namibia but is currently not exporting due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but is hopeful that the recently launched e-commerce will boost company sales.

He added that exporting honey requires big quantities and that exporting quantities such as 1,000 tonnes of honey can cost as much as US$2 million, so the company is working towards injecting more capital and filling the financial gap so they can export such quantities.

“The demand for honey is there, we are getting enquiries from South Korea, South Africa, Germany and Saudi Arabia. People in Saudi Arabia have even translated our Luano Honey labels for their market, but currently we are facing working capital restrictions as the cost of exporting huge honey quantities is very high”, he told ZBT.

Pandoliker revealed that that the Luano Honey Company works with rural beekeepers who are mostly youths and women. He said the company only exported its first consignment last year, before South Africa and Namibia went into lockdown before the covid-19 pandemic hit, but is hopeful that things will be back to normal soon.

He also said the company is managing to keep operations moving because the rest of the world has been forced to open up and do business. We are getting more enquiries as 2021 progresses. Pandoliker said the company produced 50 tonnes of honey last year and plans to increase production to 140 tonnes in 2021.

He has however noted that production is at an all-time high but the company is not getting the actual value of honey due to the Covid-19 pandemic, which has negatively affected most businesses.

“Our raw materials such as honey are in Zambia but in terms of packaging, everything else is dollar dependent, so those costs have doubled locally due to the depreciation of the Kwacha, meanwhile the selling price of honey is still the same”, he said.

Interest in Zambia’s natural honey and honey from beekeepers has continued to increase with most local companies facing challenges to expand from local markets into the lucrative export markets. The cost of financing further remains a major challenge for the growth of local enterprise.

Luano Honey says the demand for honey

Make cannabis cultivation license affordable – Govt challenged

Green Party President Peter Sinkamba has advised government to make sure that license fees for local citizens who would want to engage in cannabis and hemp production affordable in order to encourage more local people to venture into the production once it is legalised.

Sinkamba said fees for local citizens should be different from those for foreign investors so that locals are not disadvantaged. He stated that unlike foreign investors who can be charged relatively high fees as government can use this as a revenue generating venture, historical imbalances should be avoided so that local Zambians can be active participants in this sector.

In an exclusive interview with the Zambian Business Times-ZBT, Sinkamba said he is aware of the fees that other countries are charging, therefore government should come up with fees similar to that to prevent chasing away foreign investors.

“We know what Zimbabwe, South Africa, Malawi and Lesotho are charging, so we should not come up with fees that are going to chase away investors to go to destinations where it is affordable to get a license, we must be competitive and be within the range that these other countries in close proximity are”, he said.

He noted that government has not yet decided the cost of licenses for the two proposed bills but stakeholders have suggested that the cannabis bill and the industrial hemp bill should have a duo system of licensing fees.

Sinkamba explained that cannabis or marijuana has two types, which are indica and sativa adding that the cannabis bill is talking about medical cannabis, which is cannabis indica, and the industrial hemp bill is meant for cannabis sativa, which is for industrial use only.

He said once the two bills are enacted into law, people can start applying for licenses, those that want to manufacture industrial products can apply for licenses to do with cannabis sativa and those that want to apply for licenses to do with production of medical marijuana can get licenses for cannabis indica.

He further said that cannabis indica has very high levels of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) which is a substance that makes people high when they smoke and is used for production of medicine-medical marijuana

He added that cannabis sativa has low THC which is below 0.3% adding that this is what is called industrial hemp because its main use is to manufacture industrial products such as clothes, CBD oil, hair cream, body cream bio diesel, paper, bricks for construction using what is called hempcrete and dashboards for cars like Mercedes Benz and BMW.

Cabinet has approved the introduction of the Cannabis and Hemp Bills 2021 in parliament which once enacted into law, would allow the cultivation of marijuana for medical purposes.

It has also approved the introduction of the Industrial Hemp Bill 2021 which aims to provide for the licensing of storage, processing, importation, exportation, cultivation, production and distribution of marijuana.

Chief Government Spokesperson Dora Siliya said cabinet expects that the country will benefit both medically and economically through the enactment of the law on cannabis.Sinkamba expressed happiness over the introduction of the two bills in parliament and now remains an issue that the law makers should prioritize so that Zambia can realize full economic and industrial benefits.

Green Party President Peter Sinkamba has advised