FARMERS’ unions are lobbying MPs to assist them to be given more time to repay the millions of dollars they secured in loans from banks to buy equipment and machinery for their operations.
by VENERANDA LANGA
Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Lands and Agriculture chairperson Christopher Chitindi yesterday confirmed to NewsDay that different farmers’ unions appeared before the committee recently to lobby Parliament to convince banks to give them up to five years to repay the loans that have ballooned as they accrued interest.
“Farmers want to be given a longer period like five years to begin servicing close to a billion dollars in debts that were accrued after they got loans from banks since 2009,” Chitindi said.
“For example, one farmer said they got a $400 000 loan, but because of the high interest rates being charged by banks of up to 35%, his debt had now ballooned to $1,5 million.”
Chitindi said the farmers promised that since they were now being supported through command agriculture and were expecting bumper harvests, they would be able to begin servicing the loans over a period of five years.
“It does not make sense that banks charge exorbitant interest rates, and it is a threat to farming because what is going to happen is that banks will end up taking assets such as tractors, harvesters and irrigation equipment from the farmers and that will affect production.
“Already some of the farmers concerned are under litigation and fear that their equipment will be taken away by the banks. The banks concerned must reduce their interest rates because they are not sustainable and will kill the agricultural sector,” Chitindi said.
Farmers said they failed to service the loans because the country had been hit by periods of drought resulting in them making losses.
Zimbabwe has been one of the food-insecure nations in the past three years with vulnerable communities, mostly in rural areas, having to depend on donated food handouts. Last year more than four million people were adjudged food-insecure, but the numbers have dropped this year after good rains and bumper harvests.