Africa-Press – Zambia. Constituency Development Fund (CDF) has revamped operations at the Zambia Cooperative Federation (ZCF) Solar Milling Plant in the Lufwanyama district on the Copperbelt province.
The solar-powered milling plant which is run by Kansoka Multi-purpose Cooperative in Kansoka ward has since started offloading it’s product on the market at an affordable price.
Timothy Kapenda the Cooperative Chairperson told ZANIS that their meali-meal which is retailing at K150 per 25 kilogram bag has since attracted demand from various neighboring districts like Chingola and Kitwe.
“Our milling plant was almost becoming a white elephant as we had no enough capital to buy maize for production of meali-meal,” said Mr. Kapenda.
He further explained that the government through CDF gave them a grant of K13,000 last year which has enabled them to start production. Mr. Kapenda said they are now able to produce a minimum of 12 bags of meali-meal every day, which was not the case in the past.
He further thanked government for the empowerment fund which he said has enabled them to contribute in stabilising the price of the staple food in the area.
However, Mr. Kapenda also appealed to government to consider them with another funding in order for them to increase their production capacity. A check by ZANIS found queues of meali-meal buyers building up at the milling plant.
And Abraham Banda who was on the queue expressed happiness with the affordable meali-meal they were accessing at the solar powered milling plant. Speaking in a separate interview, Kansoka ward councilor Lee Mukanzo commended Kansoka Cooperative for investing CDF funds in a productive project.
He further urged them to continue being a shining example if they are to receive more support from other stakeholders. “I would just want to advise them to continue working hard, because you never know who might be interested to help them tomorrow again,” said Mukanzo.
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