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The release of more than $9 million by Treasury to pay farmers for grain delivered to the Grain Marketing Board has come at the most opportune time when farmers are preparing for the forthcoming cropping season. Rains are expected to start at the end of this month and most farmers are busy mobilising the required resources so that they are ready for planting once the rains start.
The decision by the Government to release the money to pay farmers ahead of the start of the cropping season is highly commendable. The Government obviously wants farmers to use the money to buy inputs as well as meet other costs of preparing for the coming farming season.
The GMB, according to the general manager, Mr Albert Mandizha, had not paid farmers for the past two seasons and now owed them $10 million. We want to implore Government to release the balance which is not much so that the GMB does not owe the farmers anything as we begin the new cropping season.
The failure or delay by the GMB to pay farmers was partly to blame for the decline in food production. Many farmers had in fact abandoned food crops such as maize to concentrate on cash crops such as tobacco because the GMB was taking long to pay for their deliveries. How were farmers expected to continue producing without being paid?
It is the mandate of every responsible government to ensure that its farmers produce enough food for its citizens’ consumption. Farming, we have said it before, is a business and as such farmers should not only be paid viable prices but the payment must also be made on time.
After harvest, farmers are supposed to sell their produce and the money realised is then used to buy inputs and meet other costs of preparing for the next farming season. Zimbabwe is an agro-based economy and as such the economy can only turn around if there is a boost in agricultural production.
It is against this background that we want to commend efforts by both the Government and the private sector to support farmers as they prepare for the next cropping season. Only last week, Government unveiled a $161 million agricultural support facility meant to assist farmers to buy inputs.
The Government and the private sector have so far mobilised about $1 billion to support crop and livestock production as the country works towards reclaiming its status as the bread basket for southern Africa. A total of 1,6 million farmers are set to benefit from the Government’s input support facility.
The challenge is to restore the farmers’ confidence in the GMB and also to encourage farmers to put more hectares under food crops.
The erratic rains received during the past two cropping seasons are partly to blame for the food deficit the country is facing but the situation was worsened by poor maize producer prices and the late payment by the GMB.
Farmers should not only be guaranteed viable prices but timely payment to enable them to prepare for the next cropping season. Zimbabwe used to produce surplus grain for export and there is no excuse for failing to do so now that most farmers have been allocated land in prime farming areas that used to be a preserve of the whites.
The farmers have in the past been exploited by unscrupulous businesspersons that were buying their produce for a song because the GMB which was supposed to pay them viable prices did not have the money. The situation worsened during the inclusive Government as MDC-T ministers were opposed to the land reform programme hence they were against supporting farmers.
The coming farming season should be a turning point for the country as the Government and the private sector have already started mobilising the required resources.
We want at this juncture to appeal to seed and fertilizer companies to move their products closer to farmers before the onset of the rains. Farmers on their part should be busy preparing the land now so that they are able to plant with the early rains to be guaranteed good harvests given the changing weather patterns.
Those that have been allocated the land, which is a finite resource, have an obligation to produce food for the nation. Individuals that got the land for speculative purposes should be identified and booted out of the land to pave way for serious and committed farmers.
Zimbabwe should, beginning next year, produce enough and even surplus food for export.
Online Reporter