Include farmers in remote locations, stakeholders urge ZMX

Edgar Vhera Agriculture Specialist Writer

CONCERNED stakeholders have challenged the Zimbabwe Mercantile Exchange (ZMX) to decentralise services of the weekly agriculture commodity trading platform to all areas outside Harare and increase participation of smallholder farmers.

Stockfeed Manufacturers Association of Zimbabwe executive administrator, Dr Reneth Mano yesterday said smallholder farmers who are expected to provide up to 80 percent of the grain for trade on the market lack infrastructure communication technology (ICT)-enabled trading infrastructure.

“Smallholder farmers from A1 farms, communal and old resettlement areas account for 80 to 90 percent of the projected 800 000 tonnes of surplus maize that will be sold for domestic commercial processing into maize meal, stockfeed, beer and snacks manufacturing industry in Zimbabwe.

“The ZMX weekly auction is a Harare operation unable to integrate the surplus smallholder farming sector into the online system for lack of decentralised ICT-enabled trading infrastructure and outreach strategy needed for it to become relevant to the average maize producers in the villages of Zimbabwe,” said Dr Mano.

Dr Mano said in most years the stock feed manufacturing industry imports between 150 000 and 200 000 tonnes of maize at much higher prices especially during the hunger season (December to April).

He described liquidity challenges and the unavailability of affordable United States dollar credit facilities, as impeding traders and agro-processors from buying their annual maize requirements now for future use.

Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers’ Union president Dr Shadreck Makombe said there was need for intensified awareness campaigns by ZMX to encourage all classes of farmers to participate.

“It takes time to change people’s attitudes and perceptions. ZMX must be on the forefront raising awareness for people to have confidence in this trading arrangement,” he said.

ZMX chief executive Mr Collen Tapfumaneyi said a lot of farmers had been registered and huge volumes of maize have been offered, though the sticking issue was the wide price gap between buyers and sellers.

“Results from the last two auctions show that thousands of tonnes had been offered from all over the country, but actual trades are few as farmers want an average price of US$330 per tonne while big buyers are bidding at an average of $260 per tonne.

“That price gap has to close if bigger volumes are to be traded,” said Mr Tapfumaneyi.

He said the ZMX platform was online and accessible via online, mobile and unstructured supplementary service data (USSD) channels from anywhere across the country.

Mr Tapfumaneyi observed that farmers were pushing for prices close to or matching Government’s announced prices while buyers want lower prices to compete with imports.

Some traders claim the current landed cost of imported maize was in the range US260 to US$290 per tonne though this will rise to around US$340 prior to the start of 2024 marketing season.

Zimbabwe Grain Millers’ Association (GMAZ) chairman Mr Tafadzwa Musarara, however, feels farmers will not readily warm up to the ZMX trading platform, as they were not among its founders.

“The ZMX is an entity founded and owned by parties who are outside the grain value chain and it started its operations in a market that had already a functioning system of buying and selling maize and wheat.

“Regrettably, its offerings and existence is not giving grain buyers and sellers a reason to abandon their current arrangements and migrate to it,” said Mr Musarara.