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country’s distressed provinces, GMB general manager Mr Albert Mandizha has said.
In an interview last week, Mr Mandizha said some of the distressed households had already bought 64 tonnes of the grain, which represents an 18 percent uptake.
“We have been identifying distressed areas since January and have established that they needed 35 000 tonnes of maize and the good thing is that the maize is there.
“As of December last year, the GMB had bought grain amounting to 270 000 tonnes so the issue at the moment is not about availability but accessibility – how to reach the distressed households with the grain,” he said.
He said uptake of the grain would peak towards July when most people would have exhausted what they currently have at their disposal while mobilising financial resources at the same time.
“At the moment GMB staff has been deployed across the country to assess the situation and advise concerned households on the dates of grain delivery so that they prepare cash in advance.
“We are also fine tuning our delivery mechanisms and working on a comprehensive programme to move the grain to all wards in need across the country,” added Mr Mandizha.
The GMB is taking service to the people and a 50kg bag of the maize is selling for US$16, further explained Mr Mandizha.
Additionally, Mr Mandizha said the grain buyer’s main challenge at the moment was the bad state of roads in some of the provinces that is making it difficult for transporters to avail their vehicles.
Most transporters, he said, shunned those provinces that had very bad roads, which was making it difficult for the GMB to speedily move the grain.
The process of moving grain to the distressed regions may be stalled by this reluctance by transporters, which makes it vital for other players including Government to chip in and assist the parastatal.
Mr Mandizha also revealed that GMB had done 98 percent of the payments for grain delivered in the 2010 season and was in the process of paying those still bringing in grain.
“We have paid for the 270 000 tonnes that we have in our stocks.
“We have done very well with Government support. Every farmer that delivered grain has been paid and those that remain are only those still bringing in grain after making late decisions to do so,” added Mr Mandizha.