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GOVERNMENT is working on a legal instrument that guides parties to contract farming as part of measures to deal with inherent disputes that have been associated with the arrangement while at the same time re-examining the direction Agribank has taken in its operations, largely in relation to providing funding to agriculture.
The Minister of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development Dr Joseph Made said it was disheartening that farmers continued to sign documents that short-changed them as most such farming contracts tended to benefit the contractors much more than the farmers. But he acknowledged that contractors also had grounds for complaint, especially in side-marketing.
Many farmers have failed to wean themselves off the contractors because the rewards have been little to allow farmers to stand on their own.
“This is why it is important to now re-examine the direction Agribank has taken in terms of providing funding to farmers for infrastructure needed on a farm. It is clear in the Zanu-PF manifesto that Agribank, the Infrastructural Development Bank of Zimbabwe, among others, are some of the instruments which we will use in the various sectors,” said the minister.
Dr Made said Cabinet, in its first meeting, had discussed extensively on how to boost productivity, particularly in the small holder and communal sectors and that a 55 percent subsidy of electricity on farmers was being considered while the effect of installing prepaid meters on farms was being assessed.
Other issues discussed included availability of electricity to farmers, resuscitation of irrigation schemes and canals.
On contract farming, Minister Made said Cabinet had directed that an arrangement that protected the interests of both the farmer and the contractor should be struck as it had been noted that contractors complained that farmers were side-marketing contracted crops while farmers raised complaints on the ambiguity of contracts signed and prices offered by contractors.
Farmers have complained that contractors would want to have all the crop sold to them notwithstanding that they might have provided inputs for only part of the crop.
“We have been directed to come up with an instrument which addresses complaints raised by both sides in order to control some rent seeking behaviour either by contractors or farmers,” he said.
Minister Made urged farmers’ unions to strengthen their legal departments so that they adequately empower their members with knowledge regarding contracting farming.
“It is also the job of farmers’ union to protect their members. They should strengthen their legal departments so that they don’t allow farmers to sign contracts that are ambiguous,” he said.
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