The ongoing load-shedding has resulted in up to a 20 percent reduction in the production of mealie meal, which has the potential to cause shortages of the commodity on the market.
Millers Association Of Zambia-MAZ president Andrew Chintala has disclosed that the power outages have left some millers with between 15 and 20 percent slump in production while those who have maintained production levels have had to incur extra costs on backup-up power supply such as generators which require huge amounts of diesel.
Mr. Chintala has further disclosed that there are ongoing talks between ZESCO management and the association toward mitigating the impact of these outages by providing technical support to the mills and following the preset load-shedding timetable to allow millers to maximize the hours available to them.
In an interview, Mr. Chintala is hopeful that the revised load management schedule will help millers to sustain production, and help them plan properly.
