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The Zimbabwe Farmers’ Union executive director Mr Paul Zakariya said the announcement of the winter wheat input scheme had been delayed and this would negatively affect the yield.
“Although the input scheme for this year’s winter wheat crop has been announced, was it not better to have the proclamation made by December last year so that the farmers are able to plan. As it is, the farmers are not even aware of how resources from that scheme will be disbursed,” he said.
He said if the resources are to be accessed through the banking sector, this was likely to pose accessibility challenges as the institutions would require collateral.
“We are yet to know how the funds will be disbursed and if it is through the banks, the institutions do not require 99-year leases as collateral. In addition, if the banks are to disburse the resources, it means they will take their time to assess the farmers to benefit from the facility; and while that is being done, the season will be progressing,” he said.
“And if we are to say the inputs are to be distributed through the Grain Marketing Board (GMB), have the responsible authorities resolved issues of corruption at GMB.”
Mr Zakariya said by the end of next week the farmers should have completed land preparation for winter wheat, adding that the cut off date for planting the crop was 15 May each year.
He said winter wheat planted later than 15 May would result in reduced returns.
“We are really not learning from past experiences. For example, obviously we lost the summer season because of the rains but other issues were to do with late planning; the inputs for the summer season were distributed in January,” said Mr Zakariya.
He also said the $20 million winter wheat input support scheme for this season was a far cry to enable the country to achieve its wheat national demand of 450 000 tonnes annually.
“The $20 million is a far cry from the national demand. It is just to keep the farmers producing and from our budget, that money can only cover about 12 500 hectares (ha) and with an expected yield of three tonnes per ha it means the country will achieve 37 500 tonnes of wheat. It also means that the country will have to import more than 400 000 tonnes of wheat at a cost say $400 to cover the deficit,” he said.
He said Zimbabwe would require more than $160 million for wheat imports.
“And why not invest that $160 million in local production so that the country does not rely on imported wheat?”
Commenting on electricity supplies during the winter season, Mr Zakariya said Zesa needed to ensure that the farmers were given preferential power supplies.
In a separate interview, the Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers Union (ZCFU) president Mr Donald Khumalo echoed similar sentiments.
“We have not heard of how the inputs to support this year’s winter wheat farming will be accessed. While we appreciate efforts being made by Government during this trying time, we however, bemoan the late proclamation of Government’s intervention,” he said.
He said because of delays by Government to announce the intervention on this year’s winter wheat, a number of ZCFU members had given up wheat farming.
“As the announcement has been made, as ZCFU we are oing to motivate our members to take up winter wheat farming this year. We have to start planning following the announcement,” said Mr Khumalo, adding that it was important that the Ministry of Agriculture, Mechanisation and
Irrigation Development identifies the farmers to benefit the inputs so that there are no further delays in accessing the resources.
Efforts to get a comment from Dr Joseph Made were futile.
Online Reporter