From Elita Chikwati in Gokwe
Farmers in Gokwe have expressed gratitude to Government for establishing grain and cotton collection points near farming areas, as this will ease the challenge of travelling long distances to markets.
Government this season tasked Cottco and the Grain Marketing Board to establish selling points within five kilometres to reduce costs and time taken by farmers to market their produce.
GMB has established 1 882 collection points countrywide, while Cottco has established 441 buying points. The farmers said they used to have a centralised marketing system for cotton, while they had to deliver their grain to GMB on their own.
They said this increased costs as they had to pay transporters for ferrying their produce to the market.
Other farmers said the centralisation of the market increased chances of their livestock getting infected by diseases, especially Foot and Mouth Disease, as the area was prone to the disease.
Gokwe farmer Mr Victor Nemangwe, said the centralisation of cotton delivery points was meant to curb side marketing.
“We used to have challenges as some farmers would travel for more than 40 kilometres to deliver their cotton,” he said. “Our roads are in bad state and sometimes farmers used scotch carts to deliver their produce.
“Most farmers were no longer able to sell their grain to the GMB as it was expensive to travel to Gokwe Centre, especially when one had few bags.”
Mr Nemangwe said farmers ended up selling their grain at give away prices to middlemen who came to their farming areas.
“We heard that this year GMB will establish collection points nearer to farmers and this will make it convenient for us to sell our maize and realise better profits than those offered by middlemen,” he said.
Another farmer, Mrs Mavis Mafusa of Mutimutema Village, said decentralisation of markets was going to reduce the spread of Foot and Mouth Disease in the area.
“Cattle from different areas of Gokwe used to mix at the cotton common buying points,” she said. “Sometimes we would spend three days and this increased the chances of the spread of FMD to other areas.
“Now, our cattle will not mix with those from FMD prone areas and this reduces the spread of the disease.”
Some farmers in Gokwe have, however, continued to sell their grain to middlemen.
The farmers said they were selling the grain because they were desperate for cash to pay school fees.
Others said they were trading their maize in exchange for stationery for their children and sometimes food stuffs such as sugar and cooking oil.
Another farmer from the area, Mr Betsero Marazana, urged farmers to be patient and wait for GMB where they could get value for their produce.
“Middlemen are ripping off farmers by offering low prices, as low as $2 per bucket,” he said. “After collecting our grain, these middlemen will go and sell at viable prices. Farmers should not waste their maize, but sell the maize at a higher price or deliver to the GMB, which offers favourable price of $390 per tonne.”
Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development Minister Dr Joseph Made recently said farmers in all sectors had worked hard this season and should not be punished when selling their produce.
He said collection points should be established nearer farmers and more will be established and distances reduced if there was need.
The 2016/17 season has been described by many farmers as a success due to the heavy rains received across the country even in drought prone areas.
Zimbabwe is expecting 2,7 million tonnes of cereals and 2,1 million tonnes will come from maize while the remaining 600 000 tonnes will come from small grains such as millet, finger millet, rapoko and sorghum. Cotton farmers who largely participated in the Presidential Inputs Scheme are expecting at least 150 000 tonnes.