ZIM farmers market place widens

Esther Tom

FARMERS have welcomed the decision by the Zimbabwe Mercantile Exchange (ZMX) to include new crops – soya beans, sugar beans, sunflower, white sorghum, red sorghum and wheat in the weekly auction that had been taking maize only saying the move would promote crop diversification as well as encourage farmers to explore new opportunities in the agricultural industry.

The coming on board of the new band of crops was announced in a press statement published by ZMX yesterday.

In a telephone interview, Zimbabwe Farmers Union (ZFU) secretary general Mr Paul Zakariya said the addition of new crops in the weekly maize auction by Zimbabwe Mercantile Exchange was influenced by its foundation and as such was aimed at promoting crop diversification and increase incomes for farmers thereby embracing the initiative for the betterment of farmers.

“The foundation of ZMX has influenced its decision to expand the weekly maize auction to add new crops, which will encourage farmers to diversify their crops and explore new opportunities beyond maize,” said Mr Zakariya.

Mr Zakariya explained that the expansion of the auction would provide farmers with more options and increase potential revenue streams in support of the growth of the agricultural industry.

Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers Union (ZCFU) president Dr Shadreck Makombe also lauded the development saying it would ensure equal representation of crops in the agriculture sector.

“Everything being equal we are expecting this to function more, meaning the market is guaranteed so it’s quite an added advantage on the farmers’ side,” said the ZCFU president.

Dr Makombe also added that the inclusion of new crops inclusion in the matrix would allow the market place to grow as farmers, will produce more varied crops to complement the maize crop thereby expanding the industry.

“The expansion of the market opens a broad base for farmers to sell their different products, the more varied the products are, the more flexibility farmers have in terms of which crop to add to their production list,” he said.