adminyesterday said in an interview that Government’s biggest responsibility for this season would be supporting communal farmers.
Dr Made said for the commercial farmers, some of the funds earmarked for the 2012/13 cropping season would be disbursed to Agribank for on-lending at lower rates.
He would not disclose the amount, but said Government last week paid US$10 million to fertiliser companies and seed houses for last year’s input supplies.
Minister Made said Cabinet resolved to pay part of the outstanding amounts to seed houses and fertiliser companies to enable them to supply inputs this season.
An additional US$10 million was also disbursed to the Grain Marketing Board to pay farmers for maize deliveries during the previous selling season.
“I think what is very important,” he said, “is that Government has made it very clear that its obligation for the summer season is on vulnerable social groups and the communal farmers. This will enable us to deal with food security.
“The focus will be on food security and this relates to communal farmers.
“A1 farmers will get partial support but A2 farmers will have to go to banks for funding. Part of the funds earmarked for the next season will be availed to Agribank and Finance Minister (Tendai Biti) will stipulate the concessionary rate.”
In a separate interview, Minister Biti said his ministry and the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe were negotiating for lines of credit with local banks to support agriculture.
But the minister declined to shed light on how much the Government intended to mobilise and the rate at which farmers would borrow.
“We are negotiating with some local banks for some lines of credit and we will issue a statement soon,” was all he was prepared to say.
Dr Made said the proposed long-term leases for A2 farmers would soon be brought before Cabinet for final approval. This would equip farmers with collateral when borrowing.
He said seed companies had been directed to set up branches which are easily accessible. These should be found even in the remote parts of the country.
The Industry and Commerce Ministry has been tasked with overseeing the implementation.
“The big task is on the Finance Minister and we need to support him,” said Dr Made.
The agriculture sector is suffering from inadequate funding and analysts say a solution to revive the sector should be centred on unlocking financial resources. The sector requires US$2 billion per year to operate optimally and bring back the glory of yesteryear. But this requirement is more than 50 percent of the National Budget.
This means Government alone has no capacity to fund agriculture. The financial sector has to complement the Government’s efforts.
Before independence the banking sector bankrolled the sector, but not because all the farmers had collateral. The decisions were made on purely business and viability grounds.
But analysts maintain that Government should provide bankable instruments for farmers in the form of title deeds to expedite the farmers’ accessibility to money.
Online Reporter