US$30m for maize farmers

Livingstone Marufu
Treasury has released US$30 million to the Grain Marketing Board to pay farmers delivering maize to the parastatal, a senior Government official has said. Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development (Crop Production) Deputy Minister Davis Marapira said some commercial farmers were still harvesting their maize crop and their small-scale counterparts had so far delivered over 87 000 tonnes to the GMB.

He said, “We hope that our farmers, especially small-scale farmers, will continue delivering grain to the GMB and avoid side marketers where farmers are paid less money.

“We have changed pay dates from 14 to seven days as a way of encouraging farmers to bring their maize to the market.

“About three weeks ago we were at around 25 000 tonnes but last Friday the figure increased to 87 000 tonnes. This is very encouraging,” said Deputy Minister Marapira.

Government has pegged the maize price at US$390 per tonne against private buyers’ offers of around US$360.

Zimbabwe needs about 1,3 million tonnes of maize until the end of the year, and so far about 526 802 tonnes have been imported from Russia, Ukraine and Zambia to avert food shortages.

According to the Agriculture Ministry, the target for importation (February-December 2016) was 1 361 452 tonnes at a cost of US$561 million.

It is understood that contracts for importation of 630 000 tonnes of maize were signed between the GMB and private suppliers. Of this, 129 000 tonnes have so far been delivered.

Deputy Minister Marapira said Government had directed the GMB to take maize at 13,5 percent moisture level content against the normally acceptable 12,5 percent to encourage early deliveries of grain.

He said the Strategic Grain Reserve now held 91 327 tonnes of maize after 63 000 tonnes were distributed under the drought mitigation programme.

Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers Union president Mr Wonder Chabikwa said, “It’s our hope that farmers continue to deliver their grain to GMB as it has improved its payment method.

“After whatever our farmers do with their money, they must bear in mind that our summer season is just around the corner; inputs, capital and labour will always be needed every season.

“We commend them for the job well done; we expect them to continue delivering to the formal market where they can get a better payment.”