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Nqobizitha Dhlamini Farming Reporter
THE Government has set aside $12 million to settle debts owed to farmers, a Cabinet Minister has said.
However, farmers are still worried that the money falls far short of what the Grain Marketing Board owes them for maize delivered last year.
In an interview, Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development Minister Dr Joseph Made said the Government always wanted to settle its debts to farmers to allow them to concentrate on improving production.
“The Government owes farmers some money hence there is $12 million that has been set aside to settle these debts that accrued between the year 2014 and this year. As the farming community is preparing for the cropping season, we saw it fit to settle the debts owed to farmers,” said Dr Made although he could not commit to revealing which farmers will benefit first.
The GMB alone owes farmers nearly $50 million for maize which was delivered last year, a situation which farmers have said was compromising their efforts to improve production.
Dr Made said agriculture still has the potential to pluck the economy out of its challenges hence the need to fully support farmers.
“There is so much wealth in the agricultural sector and farmers need to be taken seriously. That is why we have taken the initiative as Government to settle the monies owed to them as most farmers depend on the finance from the sale of crops to invest in subsequent cropping seasons,” he said.
Zimbabwe Farmers Union president Mr Abdul Nyathi has always expressed concern over the failure to pay farmers by the Government.
“It is a huge setback when farmers do not get paid for their produce after months of hard work. This usually sets them back and demoralises them as there is limited additional income from loans and grants,” he said.
Meanwhile, a farmer based at Umguza in Matabeleland North Mr Mduduzi Nkomo has said the move by Government to avail some money for farmers was welcome.
“We are happy that Government is taking steps towards paying us our monies as we depend on them to prepare for the coming cropping season.
Most of us do not have alternative sources of income hence we suffer setbacks whenever we do not get payment for our hard work,” he said.
derick.khumalo