Maize producer price increased

“Maize prices on the ZMX declined by 6,2 percent to US$333,40 per tonne during the week driven by increased national supply that has shifted market dynamics in favour of buyers. "Despite the supply volumes on the ZMX platform remaining low, the broader availability of maize across the country is exerting downward pressure on prices,” said ZMX in its weekly bulletin.

Business Reporter
THE Government has increased the maize producer price for the 2013/14 marketing season by 28 percent to $378.86 per tonne to encourage farmers to continue producing the crop.
The price was previously pegged at $295 per tonne.
In a statement, GMB said before the gazetting of the new producer price for the 2013/14 marketing season, it had been paying an interim price of $310 per tonne delivered to its depots.“GMB advises that farmers delivering their maize to its depots countrywide are now being paid $378.86 per metric tonne. This follows the announcement of this new maize producer price for the 2013/14 marketing season by the Ministry of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development recently,” it said.

It said the increase in maize producer price comes amid calls by farmer organisations and individuals for the Government to incentivise maize farmers to continue producing the staple crop. The Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers Union and the Zimbabwe Farmers’ Union could not be reached for comment on the new prices.

Presenting the 2013 mid-term fiscal policy last week, Finance Minister Tendai Biti said the recent second round crop and livestock assessment report indicated that 798 600 tonnes of maize would be realised in 2013.
The figure is below the initial projection of 1.1 million tonnes.

“This is a further reduction from the 968 000 tonnes recorded in 2012. The poor maize output is mainly as a result of the erratic rainfall pattern witnessed during the 2012/13 farming season, which affected yields and hectarage.
“Out of the 1 442 845 hectares in area planted, 177 605 hectares were written off.

“This reduced harvested area from 1 265 237 hectares to 967 229 during the same period. Furthermore, yields declined from 1 tonne per hectare in 2012 to 0.63 tonne per hectare in 2013,” he said.

Following reduced output levels, the Government resorted to importing grain from surplus regional countries.
Recently, arrangements to import 150 000 tonnes of maize from Zambia at a cost of $70.6 million have been made in order to augment stocks in the Strategic Grain Reserves.

The Grain Millers Association has said it would import up to 160 000 tonnes of maize to meet demand on the local market. The country needs 2.2 million tonnes of maize annually.