Story by Kenias Chivuzhe
THE country is secure in terms of mealie meal supply after interventions by authorities to address supply gap challenges which emerged in December last year.
The mealie meal supply gaps experienced last month which had resulted in panic buying have now come to an end after an increased supply of the commodity on the market.
This came out during a tour of milling companies and mealie meal suppliers by the Grain Millers Association of Zimbabwe in Mutare this Friday where consumers commended the normalisation of mealie meal supply.
“We were facing mealie meal shortages with large queues being experienced and we are happy that supply has greatly improved,” said a Mutare resident.
“The supply of mealie meal is now stable and we are looking forward to price stability,” said another resident.
“The shortages of mealie meal are now a thing of the past. We were facing a challenge of people who were buying the commodity for speculative purposes. We are happy with increased supplies,” added a resident.
Wholesalers, retailers and manufacturers allayed fears of shortages, revealing that supply now outmatches demand.
Metro Peach Mutare branch manager Ashleigh De Klerk said, “We now have enough maize meal with all brands available in stock. There are no more shortages. The community should stop panic buying as millers have enough stock at the moment.”
“We can now supply wholesalers their demand every week from Mutare to Checheche,” said Blue Ribbons Foods Manager, Mr Edward Goori.
Gain Wholesalers store manager for the Mutare branch Mr Lloyd Makaza said, “The price of mealie meal is stabilising following the increase in supply.”
“At Mega Market, we can process 100 tonnes of maize meal per day and we are operating at 100 percent capacity. We can produce 70 tonnes of roller meal per day. We supply all parts of Manicaland as well as Harare. At the moment we are receiving 680 to 720 tonnes of maize per week from maize suppliers,” added Mega Market factory manager, Engineer Tafadzwa Mambure.
Grain Millers Association Chairperson Tafadzwa Musarara says the country is secure in terms of meal mealie supply, with Manicaland having a surplus to distribute to other provinces.
“We started to have supply gaps soon after Christmas and this has now been rectified. The situation with regards to mealie meal has improved following interventions to increase deliveries. Manicaland province requires 400 tonnes per week and our current capacity is 1290 tonnes per week so we are supplying the market threefold. We are happy that all areas in the province are receiving supplies. Trucks bringing maize to Zimbabwe from South Africa have increased. The country is secure in terms of maize supply and there is no need for imported meal mealie.”
Achieving national food security is one of the deliverables under the National Development Strategy One economic blueprint.
