Concern over delay in wheat producer price announcement

In separate interviews, farmers unions said the new producer price should have been announced by end of September at the latest.
The Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers Union (ZCFU) chief economist Mr Peter Gambara said farmers had decided to withhold their crop because without a floor price, they could not negotiate for a fair price.

“The new producer price of wheat was supposed to have been announced by 30 September to enable farmers to negotiate for a fair price with millers.
“In the absence of a floor price, the farmers have decided to withhold their crop,” he said.
The ZCFU said some farmers could have sold their wheat to millers but the millers were reluctant to pay what the farmers were asking and the delay in announcing the producer price had compounded the problem.

“We had negotiated with them and indicated that the farmers could sell their wheat at $475 per tonne but the millers refused saying they were not prepared to pay that much,” he said.
Efforts to get a comment from the Grain Millers Association of Zimbabwe chairman Mr Tafadzwa Musarara were futile as his mobile number was not reachable.
Last year, the Government pegged wheat producer price at $466 a tonne.

Mr Gambara said despite the rains having come late this farming season, farming activities in most parts of the country were still subdued because the farmers who expected to secure money after selling their wheat did not have funding to source inputs for the 2011/12 summer cropping season.

He said funding constraints among farmers were also being exacerbated by the late payment of maize deliveries to the Grain Marketing Board.
This year 12 000 hectares were put under winter wheat and 60 000 tonnes of wheat are expected.

Commenting on the late announcement of the new producer price of wheat, the Zimbabwe Farmers Union executive director Mr Paul Zakariya said: “The concerns are pretty very much the same with those that other farmer unions are facing with regards to delays in announcement of new producer price of wheat. Because of the delays by Government to announce the new price, quite a number of our wheat growers are yet to sell their harvest.

“Right now the farmers cannot even plan for the summer cropping season because of lack of financial resources.
“Some of our wheat growers expected to secure money to finance the summer cropping season after selling the wheat but can not do so because they are yet to sell their wheat,” he said.

Mr Zakariya said it was imperative for Government to consider liberalising the marketing of wheat so that market forces determine the producer price.
“As a union, we have not received communication from Government as to why the new producer price hasn’t been announced. We are in the dark,” he said.

Mr Zakariya said for the convenience of farmers, Government should in future announce the producer price early even before the commencement of the marketing season.
Contacted for comment, Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development Deputy Minister Seiso Moyo said the Government through his ministry would soon announce the new producer price of wheat.

“We will announce the new price soon but I cannot say when because we are busy assessing the requirements of the national strategic grain reserves,” he said.
Wheat production has drastically dropped due to unfavourable climatic conditions that hit Europe’s major wheat producers such as Russia last year.

Zimbabwe requires 400 000 tonnes of wheat per year but due to other challenges facing the agriculture sector, the national demand has not been met for years, a situation that has seen the country importing the grain to cover the deficit.