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Edgar Vhera
Agriculture Specialist Writer
A COCKTAIL of Government and private sector interventions in the grain sector have triggered a 200 percent growth in maize production from 780 000 tonnes in 2019 to the projected 2 300 000 tonnes this marketing season.
Statistics with the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development show that maize production grew by an average of 49 percent annually from the 776 635 tonnes in 2019 to the expected 2 298 281 tonnes in 2023.
Importance of maize to the Zimbabwean economy
White maize is an important strategic crop widely grown by smallholder farmers and is the national staple food. It is a source of livelihood to over three million people and a significant contributor to manufacturing the industry’s raw material requirements. It is an important contributor to the agriculture economy.
Maize features prominently in Zimbabwe’s agricultural policy as evidenced by frequent attempts to control the production and marketing activities through various subsidy programmes, producer price setting, ad hoc import and exports bans and statutory instruments.
Government has crafted policies that ensure farmers receive higher producer prices while consumers access cheaper maize meal through subsidies.
The country requires about 2 287 742 tonnes of grain for human and livestock consumption annually. With the expected 2 298 281 tonnes of maize and 280 956 tonnes of traditional grains this marketing season and 257 655 tonnes of maize and 45 842 tonnes of traditional grains as strategic grain reserve (SGR), Zimbabwe will be self-sufficient with a surplus of 594 992 tonnes of grain as reserves.
What policies did the Second Republic put to boost maize production?
Agriculture and Food Systems Transformation Strategy (AFSTS) 2020-25
Government developed the AFSTS in December 2019 to develop a robust agriculture sector capable of turning around and effectively steering Zimbabwe towards Vision 2030 by providing strategic responses to agriculture development challenges of increasing population, low agriculture production and productivity as well as climate change.
Climate Proofed Presidential Input Support Programme (Pfumvudza/Intwasa)
The programme supported 1,8 million households for maize and traditional grains in the 2020/21 season. Under the maize programme, each household was supported with 10 kilogrammes of maize seed, one 50kg bag each of basal and top-dressing fertilisers.
The programme supported 2,3 million households in 2021/22 season and 3,5 million people in 2022/23. Smallholder maize production under Pfumvudza/Intwasa programme achieved an average yield of 5, 3 tonnes per hectare in the 2020/21 season but fell to 1, 36 tonnes per hectare in 2021/22 because of drought. The productivity is expected to rise to 2,3 tonnes per hectare this marketing season.
The maize yield under Pfumvudza/Intwasa is above the national average.
The Government has also prioritised the accelerated smallholder mechanisation of Pfumvudza/Intwasa where 600 tractors and 600 planters are being purchased for smallholder farmers to enhance efficiency and productivity as well as reduce drudgery.
Transition from Command Agriculture (CA) to the National Enhanced Agricultural Productivity Scheme (NEAPS)
Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development Minister Dr Anxious Masuka indicated that the Government moved from CA to the NEAPS for sustainability. Under NEAPS farmers apply to financial institutions to access productive resources. It is sustainable and creates discipline among farmers as well as making them take farming as a business.
The NEAPS is a special programme for import substitution. Financial aid will be through Government-backed schemes in banks such as CBZ and Agricultural Finance Corporation (AFC), with farmers accessing the equipment, which they pay for over a three-year period and with a 15 percent deposit deduction being done at Grain Marketing Board (GMB) point of sale.
The inputs include seed, fertiliser, chemicals, fuel and mechanisation equipment such as irrigation systems.
For the 2020/21 agriculture season the Government contracted Commercial Bank of Zimbabwe (CBZ) as its agent for the Command Agriculture (CA) programme. Prospective farmers applied for loans or inputs to CBZ Agro-Yield (Pvt) Ltd, and repaid the loans after harvesting. The farmers’ debts to the bank were guaranteed up to 80 percent by the Government.
In 2020 the Government issued domestic guarantees to CBZ Agro Yield to cover disbursements of $76,8 million to finance the winter maize crop and $21,7 billion to finance the summer maize crop.
Government noting concerns of high default rate reviewed CA with the aim of making individual farmers responsible for their debts.
CBZ Agro-Yield managing director Mr Walter Chigodora said when the programme was started in the 2019/20 season loans were denominated in local currency at an annual interest rate of 35 percent and there were no challenges with default.
For the 2020/21 season the CBZ Agro-Yield loans were United States dollar denominated at an annual interest of 17 percent and were tracking exchange rates.
Last year Finance and Economic Development Minister, Professor Mthuli Ncube said under NEAPS, banks recover their money through Government guarantees thereby putting pressure on the fiscus to repay banks that would have used their money to finance the farmers.
“The low recovery rate has necessitated the Government to explore options, which ensure the sustainability of agriculture financing, including crowding in private sector investment in agriculture and adopting a competitive grain pricing and purchasing model,” Prof Ncube said.
He added: “Funding for commercial farmers under the NEAPS is being reviewed following the challenges experienced since the inception of the programme which includes side marketing by farmers, reluctance by farmers to deliver their produce to GMB citing low grain prices being offered by GMB and delivery of grain by farmers using different names making it difficult for the stop order system to recover loans.”
Contract farming schemes by private sector agro-value chain players
Government’s call for private sector members to fund at least 40 percent of their raw material requirements from local production have resulted in increased crop production by private players.
Private sector contractors under the ambit of Food Crop Contractors Association (FCCA) have increased funding towards agriculture production.
Self-financing
Individuals who are seriously taking farming as a business are producing maize for sell to Government or other players using their own resources.
Setting of pre-planting maize producer prices
Government has adopted a culture of setting pre-planting maize producer prices to aid farmers in their planning decisions. The producer prices are now pegged in foreign currency terms after farmers complained that prices offered by GMB for their maize were very low due to the depreciation of the local currency.
Citing the 2019 experience, Government announced a producer price of $390 per tonne but this was equivalent to US$142 at the interbank rate of March 15, the day of announcement. The price was increased to $776 on April 2, $1 400 on June 12 and again to $2 100 on July 16 all with hope of enhancing farmer viability.
For the 2021/22 agriculture season the Government set the maize pre-planting producer price at $58 553 per tonne, which was later reviewed to $75 000 with 30 percent of the money being paid in foreign currency. The foreign currency component was increased to US$90 and eventually to US$100 per tonne with the balance in local currency.
The 2022/23 saw Government announcing the pre-planting price of US$335 per tonne. The same price was offered at start of marketing season this year with Grain Marketing Board (GMB) paying US$200 in foreign currency while the remainder is being paid in local currency at the prevailing interbank rate.
The main policy objective is to increase agricultural production and productivity in order to ensure food self-sufficiency for the country, reduce the food import bill, and associated vulnerability to regional and global food shocks.
Maize trading on the Zimbabwe Mercantile Exchange (ZMX)
To resolve perceived challenges of low prices by GMB as well as to lower the fiscal burden of treasury and secure the country’s food security in a less disruptive manner, Government allowed maize trading on the ZMX trading platform this marketing season.
This fulfilled the Government’s resolve in the 2021 budget that sought to resuscitate the Zimbabwe agricultural commodities exchange project, which was abandoned when the GMB assumed monopoly over maize and wheat.
The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe enhanced the use of warehouse receipts as collateral security by granting liquid asset status.
Zimbabwe Mercantile Exchange (Private) Limited (ZMX) is a licenced Commodity Exchange regulated by the Agricultural Marketing Authority (AMA) in terms of the AMA Act [18:24] and is governed by the Zimbabwe Mercantile Rules and the Warehouse Receipt Act [18:25].
ZMX operates a warehouse receipt system (WRS) that entails farmers or contractors depositing their commodities in designated certified warehouses where the commodities will be weighed and graded according to international standards and a warehouse receipt is issued in favour of the commodity depositor. The farmer would then use the warehouse receipt as collateral to access credit from banks or other financial institutions.
Success stories of smallholder maize farmers
A farmer from Chitsike Village in Chiendambuya district of Manicaland, Mr Nicholas Chitsike has immensely benefited from Pfumvudza/Intwasa programme. Before adopting the programme, he was farming on 1,5 hectares of land and getting yields of between seven and eight tonnes.
“This has changed after I embraced Pfumvudza and in 2021 my yield jumped to 11 tonnes and rose further to 14 tonnes in 2022 from the same 1, 5ha of land. This year I introduced crop rotation and planted two hectares under maize, paprika, groundnuts and rapoko,” he said.
Mr Chitsike put seven plots (0, 44ha) of maize under Pfumvudza/Intwasa and harvested five tonnes at an average yield of 11, 45 tonnes per hectare.
Another farmer writing her fairy tale after joining the programme is national winner Mrs Shuviso Vangisayi of Muchinyika Village, also from Chiendambuya district.
“I have 0, 8ha from which I used to harvest three buckets or less of grain but now I get between six and seven tonnes from that same piece of land. I used to survive on doing menial work for other farmers in exchange for clothes and food. In good seasons I would get at least five bags of maize but this all changed in 2019 when I adopted Pfumvudza/Intwasa,” she said.
Mrs Vangisayi did crop rotation in the 2022/23 season and planted beans, sunflower, rapoko and paprika and maize.
“I planted six Pfumvudza/Intwasa plots (0, 37ha) under maize and harvested 4, 050 tonnes. I finished bagging the maize yesterday and now wait to deliver the produce to Grain Marketing Board (GMB),” Mrs Vangisayi continued.
She brags about joining the club of farmers who sell their maize to GMB.
Her yields have risen from 7,5 tonnes per hectare in 2021 to 8, 75 in 2022 since she adopted the Pfumvudza/Intwasa concept. Her yields for this year have registered a 23 percent rise to 10, 8 tonnes per hectare catapulting her into the 11-tonne club.
The provincial launch of the 2020/21 season was held at her homestead. Her biggest achievement was to come first in the 2021/22 season and was crowned the national winner of the Pfumvudza/Intwasa programme and got the life-changing present of a borehole from the President.
“From then, my home is always flooded with international visitors who come to learn how conservation agriculture works and I gladly teach them,” she added.
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