Unpacking Zim’s Winter Wheat Challenges
Peter Gambara 6 Jun 2013
TABITHA Mutenga, a journalist with The Financial Gazette posed the following question to me recently: Is Zimbabwe no longer a wheat growing nation as we now rely more on imports than growing the crop? Quite frankly, Zimbabwe does not have a comparative advantage in the growing of the crop as local farmers have to artificially add water to the crop, while some traditional growing countries like Turkey and Russia produce wheat using natural rainfall and therefore they are able to produce the crop much cheaper than local farmers. However, over the years, government has always wanted farmers to produce the bulk of the crop with imports coming in to fill up the small gap of grissling wheat that is required to mix with the local wheat. Farmers have, however, continued to face challenges in growing wheat to a point where most have just given up. These problems include unreliable electricity supply, funding challenges and marketing problems as briefly explained below. Electricity challenges The loss of interest from farmers to grow wheat is mainly emanating from unreliable electricity availability. Every year towards the start of the winter season, the Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC) has always assured farmers that they will reserve a certain amount of the available electricity for winter wheat production, but half way through the season, the promise has become empty as load shedding sets in. Unlike in some traditional wheat growing regions where wheat is grown from natural rainfall, in Zimbabwe winter wheat production relies on the artificial application of water that is driven by some power and that is where ZETDC comes in with the electricity. Some farmers have experienced situations where ZETDC electricity availability has deteriorated midway through the season and they have had to abandon some sections of their wheat to concentrate on a smaller portion that they can safely irrigate during the few hours that they receive electricity supply. In such situations, farmers make huge losses and this has contributed to some farmers vowing that they will never grow wheat again until the electricity situation in the country has improved. The past few seasons a lot of farmers found themselves with unusual huge ZETDC bills that make it completely unviable to grow wheat. After settling those bills, most farmers would actually end up in the red after deducting the cost of other inputs. Even the Minister of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development Joseph Made has lamented the high cost of irrigation using ZETDC electricity. Coupled with the above is the fact that towards the maturity and harvest of the wheat crop, ZETDC normally goes around switching off wheat growers in an effort to exert pressure on the farmers to pay their bills. Recently, ZETDC acknowledged that farmers were different from urban consumers who earn a salary at the end of every month and are expected to pay for the service every month. Farmers are now expected to settle their bills when they market their crops. Funding of the crop While government has set aside funds for farmers to grow the crop over the years, it has made it clear that the primary responsibility to fund the growing of the crop should lie with those who use the products i.e. bakers and millers. The same concept has been successful with tobacco merchants as well as cotton ginners in this country. Besides government, millers and bakers, other sources of funding are commercial banks, traders and non-governmental organisations. One of the reasons that has discouraged local banks and private sector players from contracting farmers to grow crops like maize and wheat has been the tendency by farmers to side market the inputs at planting or the product at harvesting time. Bankers and other providers of funding have argued that they would want government to criminalise the diversion of inputs meant for wheat to other uses as well as side marketing of the harvested wheat. They have advocated for strict monitoring of contracted farmers especially at harvesting and marketing, as they will be able to make sure that the wheat is sent straight to the miller. Having promised to mobilise funding for this year’s winter wheat, the Grain Millers Association of Zimba-bwe chickened out at the last minute because they said government had failed to come up with a Statutory Instrument (SI) that criminalises diversion of inputs and side marketing. The Ministry of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development tried to come up with a SI (Agricultural Marketing Authority Grains and Grains Products Regulations 2013) that covers all grain, but has not been able to finalise it before the start of the winter wheat planting season. Marketing challenges While government is mandated to announce a producer price before the start of the wheat marketing season on September 1 each year, the past few seasons have seen government failing to announce the producer price on time. By September 1 each year government is expected to have consulted the relevant stakeholders and announced the wheat producer price. The absence of a government producer price has left farmers at the mercy of private buyers who offer very low producer prices, but make it attractive by offering to pay cash. Farmers therefore want an assurance from the Ministry of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Develop-ment that they will announce the floor price before the start of the wheat marketing season. Cost of production It costs approximately US$1 200 to grow a hectare of wheat as shown in Table 1. Most farmers will on average yield three to four tonnes per hectare, while the good farmers will achieve five to eight tonnes, however, the higher the yield level, the better are the returns as shown in Table 1. Should the country look at alternative crops for the sake of food security because it looks like there is no hope for the wheat sector? There are not many crops that farmers can grow in winter that can contribute towards food security. Some farmers grow barley on contract to Delta and this is used for malting purposes, however, there is a limit on the area that Delta contracts. Most farmers resort to growing horticultural crops like cabbages, onions, mange tout peas, but most crops cannot be grown here due to the frost conditions in winter. Production graph from 2000 to 2012 While I do not have all the figures which can however, be obtained from the Ministry of Agriculture Mechanisation and Irrigation Development through the Department of Agricultural Technical and Extension Services, which is housed at Ngungunyana Building, No.1 Borrow-dale Road my contribution is that while the country requires over 400 000 metric tonnes per year the production peaked around 2006 when the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe provided some special funding for the wheat crop. I think that year around 60 000 hectares were planted, in, 2010, only 12 000 hectares were yielding about 50 000 metric tonnes. The area planted to wheat further decreased to 10 000 hectares in 2011. Last year 2012 just 8 000 hectares were planted to winter wheat. Recently, seed companies indicated that only 400 tonnes had been purchased by May 1, which translates to 4 000 hectares. Peter Gambara is an agricultural economist with the Zimbabwe Farmers Union