AgEcon Search (University of Minnesota, USA) · 2013 · 10 citations · 19 references
AgricultureAgricultural EconomicsEconomicsFood EconomicsFood PolicyFood SecurityAgricultural Commodity PricingAgricultural Price AnalysisAgricultural Product PricingFood Policy AnalysisFood PricesFood SubsidiesAgricultural Price ControlsFood Commodity Price SpikesFood Price RegulationFood Price SpikesRetail Food Price AnalysisRetail Food PricesStaple Food Price DynamicsStaple Food Prices
The 2012 harvest was, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock national food balance sheet estimates, a major surplus production season. However, by November the same year, Zambia started experiencing widespread maize meal shortages and skyrocketing maize meal prices. Responding to these shortages and price spikes, the government increased the price subsidies it provided on maize sold by the parastatal Food Reserve Agency (FRA) to large-scale maize mills and imposed de facto price controls on maize meal by threatening to revoke the business licenses of commercial maize mills if retail prices of a 25kg bag of maize meal exceeded kwacha rebased (KR) 50. Despite these efforts maize meal prices continued to rise, reaching as high as KR100 in some markets by February 2013.
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Stabilizing food markets in eastern and southern Africa
Thomas S. Jayne, Ballard Zulu, Jan J. Nijhoff · Food Policy · 2006 · 155 citations