adminAgriculture Reporter
The Grain Marketing Board will no longer contract farmers to produce 8 000 tonnes of soyabeans for the company’s stockfeeds manufacturing plant in Norton. GMB wanted to contract farmers from Mashonaland Central and Mashonaland West to grow 4 000 hectares of soyabeans during the 2013/14 season.
The official opening of the stockfeeds plant had been scheduled for September this year.
Due to funding delays, the plant would now be opened in January next year.
GMB general manager Mr Albert Mandizha confirmed that GMB was no longer contracting farmers this season but was instead using the resources to buy the soyabeans from farmers.
“This is a business decision that we have taken.
“Timing is important in farming. Instead of distributing inputs to the farmers when the season would have advanced, we just deploy the resources towards buying the crop from farmers,” he said.
Mr Mandizha said GMB was trying to put up the facility but there were delays in funding.
“We wanted to put everything in order by September.
“We have started late and we cannot give farmers inputs now because it will be late and will compromise yields.
“The time we got the funding made it impossible for us to continue with the contract programme.
“We would want to adhere to the contract regulations of distributing inputs to farmers timely,” he said.
Soyabean in an important ingredient used in the manufacturing of stockfeeds.
GMB also contracts farmers to produce, sorghum, millet, sugar beans, groundnuts and sunflower.
The GMB was established in 1931 in response to the 1930 world recession.
Its main purpose, which has largely remained the same over the seven decades, is to ensure food security in Zimbabwe with particular reference to staple food products, namely, maize and wheat.
Online Reporter