Letters to the Editor: Thumbs-up for SI 145

Since the gazetting of Statutory Instrument 145 of 2019 which imposes strict controls on the sale and transportation of maize, it is now illegal for individuals and companies to buy maize directly from farmers as they must go through the Grain Marketing Board. 

The SI reads; “No person who is not a producer of maize (farmer) or who is not a contractor shall sell maize to the Grain Marketing Board (GMB) . . . No person or statutory body or entity shall buy or otherwise acquire any maize from any farmer or producer otherwise than through the GMB.” 

I think this is the right prescription for the economy and a calculative move by the new dispensation as this is somehow a way of securing food in the country. 

We cannot have a situation where unscrupulous individuals play around and distort prices of the staple grain.

Golden Machona, 

Harare.