Deputy Minister Zhanda

The Government is encouraging farmers to sell their maize to private buyers since the Grain Marketing Board (GMB) does not have funds.
Deputy Agriculture Minister Paddy Zhanda told the House of Assembly that the parastatal had to date not been allocated funds to procure maize due to resource constraints.
“There was no allocation for the GMB to buy maize in the Budget,” Minister Zhanda said.
““We are looking at various ways of raising money.” The Deputy Minister added that besides allocations from the Government, financing could also be through issuance of bills.

The GMB, he said, was not in the market to compete with private buyers but as the buyer of last resort.
“If you have to sell to the GMB you have to be prepared to wait in the queue to be paid,” he said.

But legislators argued that the Government should not treat the parastatal as the buyer of last resort.
Bikita West legislator Munyaradzi Kereke said the GMB was by default the “buyer of first resort” as it was the closest to the people especially in remote areas.
“In some areas it is the closest selling point for the people,” he said.

Therefore he urged GMB must play its part and buy from.
But Deputy Minister Zhanda insisted that farmers should look for markets elsewhere.

The Government, he said, had set the buying price of $390 per tone this season as a benchmark to farmers who wanted to sell their maize to private buyers.
He said the GMB was responsible for acquiring 500 metric tones for the country’s strategic grain reserve.

He said it was also expensive to manage the reserve and the Government had the option of saving funds to import grain in times of need.
The country requires at least 2,5 million tones of maize annually. – New Ziana.