By James Kunda –
The Zambia Co-operative Federation (ZCF) is next month expecting to receive 50 additional solar milling plants which have been procured from China under President Edgar Lungu’s Presidential milling initiative.
The equipment is part of a total consignment of 2,000 solar milling plants procured by the country to enhance the milling capacity of small-scale maize producers.
ZCF business development officer Kelvin Simwendo said in an interview yesterday that the consignment of 50 would bring the total number of the mills received in the country so far to 250.
“We have received 200 out of which 125 have been installed in various provinces of the country and as at May 31, 2016, 47 were operational,” Mr Simwendo said.
“We are expecting 50 new units to come in by the end of next month and these will be dispatched in all parts of the country,” he said.
Mr Simwendo said that ZCF had so far identified 1,128 sites countrywide on which the milling plants were being installed.
He said approximately $70,000 was being spent on the entire process of operationalising one solar milling plant.
Mr Simwendo said each facility installed was initially employing five people with numbers expected to increase during the operationalisation stage.
This, he said, signified that the project had generated job opportunities for many youths.
“The other trickle down benefit has been stability in mealie meal prices to around K65/K67 per 25 kilogramme bag of breakfast and K60 for roller meal.
“Word from the areas that we are yet to reach is that the people are eagerly waiting for the milling plants to be installed to enhance the benefits of maize production by the farmers,” Mr Simwendo said.