Online Reporter
Peter Matika, [email protected]
THE Government has announced that deliveries of grain and oilseeds to the Grain Marketing Board (GMB) for the 2024-2025 summer production season are on the rise.
In his post-Cabinet media briefing, Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Minister Dr Jenfan Muswere said resources are being mobilised to ensure timely payments for the expected deliveries, which are estimated to be between 120 000 and 150 000 tonnes.
He said as of Tuesday last week, the Strategic Grain Reserves (SGR) had 80 208 tonnes while the private sector’s maize stocks were at 48 293 tonnes.
“Deliveries of grains and oilseeds to the Grain Marketing Board (GMB) from the 2024-2025 summer production season are on an upward trend. The 2025 cotton marketing season technically commenced on June 9, 2025. The minimum seed cotton prices for the season will be paid out in a 70:30 ratio in US dollars and ZiG currencies, respectively,” said Dr Muswere. He said the prices will be arranged in grades.
“Grade A will be US$0.41 per kg, grade B, US$0.37 per kg, grade C US$0.34 per kg and grade D US$0.30 per kg.
This season’s cotton sales are projected to reach 61 000 tonnes, significantly surpassing last season’s total of 13 600 tonnes,” said Dr Muswere.
He said to facilitate the sales, a total of 697 buying points have been established, comprising 221 permanent stations and 476 mobile units.
Dr Muswere said to ensure fair trade practices, strict guidelines have been put in place and no cotton bales will be allowed to leave a buying point unless the farmers have been fully paid for their deliveries.
“Furthermore, merchants are only permitted to purchase seed cotton once they have settled all outstanding payments for the previous season’s deliveries, including any grade differential prices owed to farmers.
“As of June 8, 2025, the tobacco industry had achieved remarkable success, with over 272,7 million kilogrammes of tobacco valued at US$917,6 million sold.
“Produced by approximately 135 000 tobacco farmers, this impressive output translates to an average earning of over US$6 700 per farmer,” said Dr Muswere.
He noted that this underscores the substantial economic benefits of tobacco production to farming communities, bolstering household incomes and driving economic growth and development in tobacco-growing areas.
Dr Muswere said the marketed volume of tobacco represents a significant 41 percent increase compared to the same period last year.
“For the 2025 Winter Cereals plan, the production targets remain as previously announced at 600 000 tonnes of wheat from 120 000 hectares, 39 000 tonnes of barley from 6 500 hectares and 236 000 tonnes of potatoes from 8 700 hectares.
“As of June 5, 2025, significant progress had been made in planting, with 105 663 ha planted under wheat across various regions.
In terms of barley production, 6 115 ha had been planted, being 94,1 percent of the target while for potatoes, a total of 3 417 ha had been planted against a target of 8 750 hectares,” Dr Muswere said.
