Oliver Kazunga, Senior Business Reporter
THE Grain Millers Association of Zimbabwe (GMAZ) is seeking permission from Government to buy maize directly from farmers and pay them in United States dollars as part of empowering local producers.

At the moment Governmment through the Grain Marketing Board (GMB) is the exclusive buyer of maize produced in the country. Zimbabwe has been importing maize from around the world to cover the deficit due to last season’s drought induced poor harvest.

Government has also allowed private companies and individuals with free funds to import maize.

Responding to questions during a media briefing after a stakeholders meeting in Bulawayo last Friday, GMAZ chairman Mr Tafadzwa Musarara suggested that Zimbabwe was the only country in the Sadc region with “serious” maize shortage.

“We have serious structural issues with our subsidy programme . . . why is that we are the only country in the region facing mealie-meal shortage? It has to do with policy review and others,” he said.

Mr Musarara said the prevailing grain shortage was artificial, adding that there was a need to correct it.

“We have also requested that millers be allowed to go and buy maize directly from farmers in either local currency or US dollars because some of the maize we are importing is being paid for in US dollars using free funds,” he said.

The country requires 1,8 million tonnes of grain annually. Mr Musarara said buying grain from the local farmers would also empower farmers while at the same time saving the country millions of dollars in foreign currency.

“We feel that those with free funds and doing other products like stock feeds, might want to use their free funds and go outside Bulawayo, for example, and pay the local farmer in US dollars. At the moment we are spending foreign currency importing maize instead of empowering our local farmer to produce more,” he said.

During the media briefing Mr Musarara said GMAZ also proposed a price review for subsidised roller meal of between US$2,50 and US$3,50 per 10 kilogramme bag or equivalent in local currency.

At present is the subsidised roller meal is selling for ZWL$70 per 10kg bag.

Recently the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) introduced a weekly foreign currency auction trading system which is hoped would stabilise prices.

Financial market distortions which have been largely blamed for triggering inflation, have been as a result of parallel market exchange rates.

The introduction of the foreign currency auction trading system has seen even the parallel market rates slowing down.

Mr Musarara said the existing subsidised mealie-meal pricing model has rendered the viability of the milling sector unsustainable. He said although maize availability at the Grain Marketing Board (GMB) has improved, the price of subsidised mealie-meal was no longer viable. This, Musarara said, was in addition to challenges of late payments of subsidy money to the millers by Government.

“Again the biggest challenge we have faced in the subsidy programme is the price of the roller meal. We are supposed to sell it at ZWL$63 for a 10kg bag and the retailers sell it at ZWL$70.

“We are aware of the declining value of incomes but we need also to have the product available, it doesn’t help to have mealie-meal for ZWL$70, which is not available. We need to have equilibrium between viability of millers, the concerns of consumers and the intervention of Government,” he said.

The GMAZ boss said they were aware that there is serious wage erosion as a result of rising cost of living but if calculating using the official exchange rate, a 10kg bag of subsidised roller meal is now US$1,05.

“There is nowhere in the world where mealie-meal is sold for such low price. The second thing is that the retailers are not keen to sell the mealie- meal at such a price because the margin (profit) is only ZWL$7. It is therefore not worth the commotion and the stampeding that happens outside the shops when roller meal is delivered.