adminThe Government is already providing maize to villagers around the country under the grain loan scheme since many farmers harvested nothing in the past agricultural season. However, the maize stocks to replenish our reserves are expected to come from our farmers who are still waiting for a maize producer price for this year’s marketing season.
Chronicle yesterday carried a story in which consultations for a new producer price of maize were reported to have begun ahead of the crop’s marketing season in a few weeks.
In the previous marketing season, Government increased the maize producer price from $275 a tonne to $285 a tonne though farmers complained that the price was too low for them to be able to return to the field since they had incurred more in terms of expenses.
The farmers expected the producer price to range from $300 to $390 then. We feel the announcement of the producer price shortly before the start of a marketing season does not bode well for proper planning since farmers would have invested in a crop without an assurance on how much return they would get on harvesting it.
This is an area that needs to be revisited so that farmers are aware of the producer price before they go into the fields. This delay in the announcement is likely to have driven farmers away from maize to other crops with better prices over the years. If farmers gradually desert maize farming in the long run our maize hectarage would decline and subsequently this would show through reduced tonnage going to the Grain Marketing Board.
We are aware that maize trading was liberalised some years ago, but it is a fact that the GMB remains the biggest buyer of maize especially from communal and resettled farmers.
It is important that these farmers are empowered for them to be more productive and ensure there is food security in the country since maize is our staple food. Apart from the delay in determining the maize producer price, when the price is finally announced it could take another year for farmers to get their money after delivering their grain. Some farmers are still owed money for deliveries made in the previous marketing season due to delays in the release of the funds by the Government.
It is our hope that these issues will be looked into by the Government and the farmers’ organisations so that poor marketing conditions do not discourage our farmers from growing maize. It would be unfortunate if the country is continuously forced to import maize even during good seasons due to the uncertainty over pricing and when farmers would actually be paid for their maize deliveries to the GMB. The earlier the price is known the better for the farmer, since they will know how much to put under the crop and this should not be a problem since the country now uses stable currencies.
Online Reporter