daniel chigunwe
Obert Chifamba
Agric- Insight
IT seems many farmers are not aware that Government has availed seven dryers for the drying of grain that would have been delivered with higher moisture content than the 12,5 percent recommended by the Grain Marketing Board (GMB).
After a random interaction with some farmers recently, I discovered that some had heard about the dryers, but did not know where they were installed, while some professed ignorance of the existence of the dryers, saying they could have made use of them if they had known.
Many farmers are yet to deliver their grain to the GMB citing the problem of high moisture percentages, yet they could have easily utilised the dryers and delivered the grain.
It is, however, critical for GMB to avail information on the dryers to farmers to ensure they do not hold grain under the pretext of giving it time to dry.
Some even leave the maize in the fields where it is prone to theft, damage by both wild and domestic animals while veld fires that have become synonymous with the dry season every year can easily destroy it.
It is unfortunate that in this age of internet connectivity, there are still some information gaps that are stalling progress when such information could have easily been posted on various social media sites for the benefit of the farmers.
Majority of farmers can readily access information on various media gadgets and platforms.
What GMB needs to do is to just name the depots where the dryers were installed so that farmers around those depots can always approach the parastatal when they need to use them to dry their maize or any other cereals, instead of keeping them at their homes where storage security is sometimes an absolute joke.
It would also be helpful if the parastatal posted details on the requirements, if any, the farmers need to meet to access the dryers for planning purposes.
Maize yields for the 2021/22 cropping season have reportedly dropped by 43 percent from last season’s, which makes it critical for all the grain to be accounted for and fast.
The sad reality is that there are unscrupulous buyers lurking out there who can easily spot gaps and offer to take the grain even with the high moisture content levels and later dry it.
Like any citizen, the farmers are desperate for cash and may easily give in to the temptation of selling to someone offering cash instantly and even providing their own transport.
This requires GMB to be always on its toes plugging all loopholes that the unscrupulous buyers can exploit to get their hands on the grain.
However, farmers must also remember that besides denting the country’s efforts to boost food security and build the strategic grain reserves, the selling of maize to private buyers will also lend most of them in serious legal battles with contractors since some are producing under contract.
Crops produced under contract are supposed to be delivered to the contractor in most cases to enable the sponsor to recoup the money invested.
On one hand, farmers can always sell their maize to state certified buyers like the GMB where the loans would be recovered through stop-order systems to allow the fund to continue revolving and helping many other farmers.
This makes it easier for those not comfortable with doing lots of paper work to let GMB do it for them and later give them their remaining earnings after servicing the debt.
But this also requires the GMB to make conditions of the delivery of the maize simple and eliminate excuses that farmers can always want to hide behind when there is a better paying buyer lurking in the shadows.
Government has since granted GMB the greenlight to pay farmers an early delivery incentive of US$90 over and above the $75 000 per tonne delivered.
The 2022/23 grains marketing season started on April 1 with stocks of 453 717 tonnes that were carried over from last season as part of the strategic grain reserve.
The US$90 incentive per tonne is meant to encourage farmers to deliver grain to the national silos to boost national and household food security.
In recent weeks, farmers have inundated Government with pleas to pay them in foreign currency as a way of cushioning them from the volatile exchange rates on the parallel market where they get money to pay for various services and even buy more inputs.
It is refreshing to note that the early delivery incentive, will be extended to other crops such as traditional grains, sunflower and soya bean and is payable to 31 July 2022 and applies to all deliveries made since the commencement of the marketing season.
The development will also help bring in all grains required for the building of the national strategic grain reserve especially with the growing calls for healthy eating, something for which most of the traditional grains are famed.
Of course, some farmers may use the unavailability of information on the dryers as an excuse for holding on to their maize, purportedly to give it time to dry while there are those whose maize has reached the correct moisture levels but have not delivered it and are playing the wait-and-see game in anticipation of possible changes in the price or currency of payment
This could be the point at which other stakeholders can step in and use data gathered during Government’s livestock and crop assessment programmes to remind the reluctant farmers about the implications of yield estimates made on their farms.
To push farmers to deliver grain and avoid side-marketing, Government has since evoked Statutory Instrument 145 of 2019 and instructed GMB to team up with security services to investigate possible cases of side-marketing and impound maize confirmed to have been destined for any other market instead of GMB.
It is easy to understand why Government did what it did especially given that 30 000 tonnes were confirmed harvested, yet only a paltry 5 000 tonnes had been delivered until last week yet the marketing season started on April 1.
SI 145 of 2019 states that “no person or statutory body or company or entity shall buy or otherwise acquire any maize from any farmer or producer otherwise than through the Grain Marketing Board.”
It bans the moving of bulk maize from one area to another with the producer of maize or farmer only permitted to transport not more than five bags of maize of a capacity not exceeding 50 kilogrammes per bag from one area of the country to the other without any authorised person or police officer having to confiscate the maize.
Online Reporter