President Edgar Lungu says he will interfere with the K60 per 50Kg bag market price for maize because he does not want to politicize production.

Speaking to journalists at City Airport before departure to Luapula Province yesterday, President Lungu, however, advised the Food Reserve Agency and farmers to negotiate until they were both satisfied.

“When you go to the market, there should be a willing buyer and a willing seller. I think a consensus must be achieved somehow. Those who produce maize know what they put in, they know what to expect. Those who are buying also know what they are offering so find a medium somehow. I don’t want to politicize production, production should be economical so those who are engaged in activities should be rewarded and I think when they are giving them too much money, that’s bad, too low money, that’s bad so in the end at the market there should be a willing buyer, a willing seller,” President Lungu said.

He said he had decided to fix the price last year because he felt that was the good thing to do at the time.

“Last year I fixed it because I thought that was good but I don’t want to interfere for now, there should be a bargaining process, the buyer and the seller should be willing to exchange commodities and I don’t think the buyer wants to be exploited, I don’t think a seller also wants to be exploited but somehow you need to bargain, I think the negotiation process has just started,” said President Lungu.