THE recently announced US$378 per tonne maize producer price is not enough to ensure the continued viability of the country’s grains sector, stakeholders in the agricultural industry said.

Already for 2012/2013, the country is expected to produce 800 000 tonnes from an initial projection of 1,2 million metric tonnes, owing to a dry spell and poor preparation for the season. Zimbabwe would need to import 1,4 million tonnes to meet the national requirements.

The 800 000 tonnes is a decline from last year’s harvest of 965 000 tonnes, meaning Zimbabwe will continue to depend on Zambia and South Africa, for supplies of staple grains to make up production shortfalls, despite the fact that Zimbabwe is capable of being self-sufficient in basic food production.

Farmers had proposed a producer price of US$400 to US$460 per tonne, so that it would be enough to cover the cost of production for small scale farmers, which is pegged at US$380 per tonne and also a price that matched the maize import parity price of US$460 per tonne.
Zimbabwe Farmers Union vice-president Berean Mukwende said we had proposed a price of US$410 per tonne which would incentivise farmers and encourage them to continue producing the country’s staple grain.
“Unfortunately US$378 per tonne is not enough to cover the cost of production per hectare and already the country is in a crisis, our strategic grain reserves are empty and what needed to be done was to announce a price that would encourage farmers to increase their hectarage under maize,” Mukwende said.
“The main focus should have been to give the farmer a price that would allow them to go back to the fields next season because currently the grain in the country will not be enough until the next harvest. 
“Also one finds that the middlemen are benefiting from this shortage because the food policy does not protect the farmers and the consumers. It protects the middlemen, who in this case are the millers because they are buying grain locally at US$300-US$378 per tonne and claim that they are importing from South Africa and landing the grain at US$460,” Mukwende added.
To replenish the strategic grain reserves, the country requires 500 000, whereas the commercial producers roughly need about US$1 000 per hectare to produce dry land maize and over US$1 500 per hectare for the irrigated.

In a statement recently, the Grain Marketing Board (GMB) said before the gazetting of the new producer price for the 2013/14 marketing season, it had been paying an interim price of US$310 per tonne delivered to its depots.“GMB advises that farmers delivering their maize to its depots countrywide are now being paid US$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 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 new price is not an incentive. The price announcement was way below expectations and while government was trying to protect the vulnerable groups from high food costs, the current shortages will see a price increase of grain by early January next year especially in the southern districts that depend on imported grain. This is simple economics, these are supply and demand issues,” he said.
“Government should push the price so that the farmer benefits, cut out the middlemen who are importing and in the process the consumer will also benefit.”

Although the GMB no longer has a monopoly on maize buying, its pricing sets the benchmark for all private buyers who in turn offer cash for unviable prices while payment from GMB is unreliable.
Farmers have repeatedly called for a policy framework that actively promotes the production of food surpluses on a sustainable basis.