GOVERNMENT last week disbursed US$15 million for payment of grain delivered to the Grain Marketing Board (GMB) during the 2013/2014 farming season.
GMB, a government-owned and controlled entity, was created to ensure national food security through production, procurement and management of strategic grain reserves, which should normally be held for the purpose of meeting domestic needs, such as the current situation in which thousands of people face starvation because of poor yields caused by droughts or excessive rains.
Although GMB initially had monopoly in the purchase and sale of all grain in the country, that monopoly was briefly broken when the country liberalised its economy in the 1990s.
But after experiencing an economic downturn in the new millennium, government re-established controls in the commodities market, giving GMB a quasi-monopoly over controlled agricultural products critical to the food security situation of the country.
Maize is one of those controlled agricultural products.
Farmers on resettled land have been compelled, for many years, to sell their maize to GMB, despite payment problems that have undermined their farming operations.
Speaking before a Parliamentary Portfolio Committee in February, GMB’s acting general manager, Lawrence Jasi, said the parastatal owed farmers US$49 million for grain delivered during 2013/14 marketing season.
News that GMB had received a disbursement of US$15 million for payment of arrears to farmers therefore came as a huge relief.
But considering the level of GMB’s indebtedness to farmers, this amount is surely a drop in the ocean. Moreover, farmers have over the past years alleged that GMB favours politicians, political cronies and other well-connected farmers in paying for delivered grain. Those without political clout or connections to big-name politicians have therefore suffered.
Minister of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development, Joseph Made, has promised that GMB would prioritise small-scale farmers in paying for maize delivered in the 2013/2014 season.
But this is not comforting considering that political bigwigs have already circled GMB and would be demanding preference for payment.
Government should demonstrate its commitment to the success of our farmers by ensuring that they get payment as soon as they delivery their grain to GMB depots across the country.
The farmers have demonstrated unparalleled perseverance and have continued to grow a crop that is critical to the country’s food security despite the odds stacked against them.
They should be rewarded, rather than punished; they should see that their efforts are cherished by the way government treats their enterprise.
It is possible that many farmers who delivered maize during the 2014/2015 season may still not have been paid for their produce.
Now, considering that US$15 million is a fraction of what GMB owes farmers for the 2013/2014 season, when then will those who sold their crop in 2014/2015 season get their payments? How will these farmers fund their operations in the approaching farming season?
This is something government should consider.