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Harare Bureau
Beverage manufacturer Delta Corporation will provide communal and commercial farmers with $3 million to produce 12 000 tonnes of sorghum under contract in the 2013/14 cropping season, an official said on Tuesday. Company secretary Mr Alex Makamure said Delta Corporation would continue supporting sorghum producers. “The company has an on-going sorghum contracting scheme covering both commercial and communal farmers for both red and white (macia) sorghum,” he said.
“The value of the contracted produce for the season is about $3 million depending on the final intake price. Under the A2/commercial sector scheme we will target farmers in Mashonaland Central, Mashonaland East, Mashonaland West, Midlands, Manicaland and Masvingo provinces,” he added.
Mr Makamure said the company required more that 10 000 tonnes of sorghum per year.
“Our business requires a total of 12 000 tonnes of red and white sorghum annually. The prices are set in line with the market. The current season intake price is expected to be similar to the average of $285 per tonne ex-farm paid last season. The price has to be viable to the farmer but allow for viability of the brewer as well,” he said.
He said the contract schemes were an on-going programme and therefore would be maintained into the foreseeable future.
“The committed hectarage will be driven by the business requirements.
The hectares to be committed for 2014 will depend on the anticipated volumes of sorghum beer and Eagle lager but also depend on the yields achieved by the farmers and the rainfall patterns,” he said.
He said yields from communal farmers traditionally hovered around one tonne per hectare whilst the target for commercial was around 3, 5 to 5 tonnes per same unit area.
Makamure said the scheme was open to all the farmers, but under the A2/commercial sector scheme each farmer should cover at least 20 hectares. – New Ziana
Online Reporter