Government pays $15 billion, resolves to clear farmers’ debt before start of farming season.

THE Government last Friday paid $15 billion to farmers for produce delivered at the Grain Marketing Board (GMB) as it implements modalities to ensure all debts are cleared before the start of each cropping season.

Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube said this in the National Assembly’s Question and Answer session on Wednesday.

He was responding to legislators who had raised concerns over delays in paying farmers for their produce.

Prof Ncube said the Government is paying farmers in both foreign currency and local currency.

“Yes, we have a programme where we have been paying farmers for what they have delivered if I understood the question well about the US dollar component and the Zimbabwe dollar component. In fact, last Friday, we paid something like $15 billion on the Zimbabwe dollar component towards farmers who had delivered their crop to the Grain Marketing Board. We will continue to do so until whatever is owed is cleared,” said Prof Ncube.

He said he was aware that delays in paying farmers would discourage them from producing more.

Prof Ncube said as a result, the Government has resolved to pay them up before the start of a cropping season.

“We now have a new policy that all arrears should be cleared before the next cycle. That is exactly what we are going to do going forward to clear all arrears for the next season so that we can encourage the farmers to go back to the land, otherwise, they will get discouraged and then see our agriculture going down as a result. Going forward, we will make sure that all these arrears are cleared before the next season resumes,” said Prof Ncube.

Zanu PF Proportional Representation MP for Midlands, Cde Perseverance Zhou had said delays in payments were affecting farmers in their preparations.

Cde Zhou, who is also a farmer, said farmers had not been paid for their winter wheat crop.

“My worry is, a farmer who grew winter wheat last season is not yet paid. They are now in their summer crop and they need fertilisers, pesticides, and so forth. Farmers are not yet paid for their winter crop, so they are really struggling to survive. Is there an effort to craft a policy to make sure that farmers get paid for the previous crop before the next season,” said Cde Zhou.

-@nqotshili