By CHATULA KANGALI –
MPONGWE District Commissioner(DC) Keith Maila has called on the private sector to consider investing in milling and oil processing projects in the area.
Mr Maila said in an interview yesterday that there was need for a milling and  oil processing plants in the district.
He said Mpongwe  was a grain basket  for  the country and  that the district harvested over 90,000  tonnes  of maize and   over 20,000 tonnes of soya  beans  every  year.
“We need investment in milling plants and oil processing.
We harvest a lot of maize. Instead of millers coming  here  to buy maize, they should consider  setting  up a milling  plant  in order  to reduce  on costs and in that  way, the  price  of  mealie meal can  even be  cheaper.
We have a lot of soya beans  which is processed  somewhere  else, we  need investments in oil processing  that  will also provide  soya cakes  for  livestock farmers. Zamhatch is soon coming up and they will need suppliers of soya cakes,” he said.
Mr Maila said investment in  the milling plant would enhance  agricultural activities in the area and also promote value addition and create jobs for the local people.
He observed that most farmers in the area were slowly diversifying into other crops and that, a good number were now growing soya beans.
The DC stressed that Soya beans was more profitable and the market was readily available.
He said the district had received all the inputs for this farming season and had since commenced distribution.
Mr Maila said the district had received 15,630 maize packs and 3,979 soya bean packs.