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Minister Made

Elita Chikwati Harare Bureau
MINISTERS have approved a maize producer price of $390 per tonne for the 2014/15 marketing season, Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development Minister Joseph Made has said.This is an increase from last year’s $378 per  tonne.

The maize floor price would be used by the Grain Marketing Board (GMB) to purchase grain for the strategic grain reserve.
Minister Made said Cabinet considered the plight of farmers and that of the consumer in coming up with the floor price.

“In reaching the decision on the floor price, Cabinet got the full weight to the fact that farmers have done well and in particular the 1,6 million households who received inputs from the Presidential Smallholder Input Scheme,” he said.

“Cabinet is pleased that at least every household is food secure and continues to lament the cost of inputs and fully recognises the need to empower them to be able to go back to the field.”

Minister Made said the government was also committed to timeous payment of farmers who delivered their grain to the GMB.

“The Ministry of Finance should have funds ready through the Ministry of Agriculture for the GMB to pay farmers,” Made said.
“The government has also requested that we try as much as possible to get seed and fertilizer suppliers to avail inputs in all parts of the country   so that maize farmers can buy inputs for the next season.”

The minister said tobacco growers were able to buy inputs after selling their crop and the same arrangement should be made for grain farmers.

He said it was not the responsibility of GMB to avail inputs but the suppliers and manufacturers.

“We’re going to make sure that farmers are paid promptly so that they’ll celebrate their achievement under the Zim Asset. Cabinet is pleased with the performance of the agriculture sector under the ZimAsset,” he said.

Minister Made said paying farmers early would also protect them from private buyers who offered low prices.

Private buyers usually take advantage of GMB’s failure to pay farmers instantly and offer low prices to farmers as they will be paying cash.

The producer price for small grains is expected to be slightly higher than that of maize.

Zimbabwe is expecting a bumper harvest after a total of 1,655,366 hectares of maize were planted this season with a yield expectation of above 1,6 million tonnes.