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Samantha Chigogo Harare Bureau
THERE is enough maize at the Grain Marketing Board and people must desist from buying grain at inflated prices from unscrupulous traders, Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development deputy minister responsible for crop production and irrigation Cde Davis Marapira has said. The country had poor rains this farming season and unscrupulous traders are taking advantage of the situation to overprice their grain.

In some areas, a bucket of maize, which normally sells between $6 and $7, is fetching $10.

Marapira said unscrupulous grain dealers should stop overcharging and creating false alarms in provinces hit by drought.

“There’s no reason to buy a bucket of maize at that price. People should buy maize from GMB where there are standard prices. GMB is also selling cheap mealie-meal,” he said. “We’re shocked to hear that already a bucket of maize in some areas is going for as much as $8 or $10.

“A tonne of maize that should be selling at $390 is going for more than $500. This is sheer fleecing of desperate buyers and it’s not acceptable. Let’s not create a crisis out of the few resources we have but rather manage them accordingly to ensure that all parties benefit.”

He said the government recently imported grain from Ukraine and other sources.

Cde Marapira said measures were being taken to avert a food crisis. “People should stop panic buying of grain or food at large in fear of hunger in the country,” he said.

“We’ve enough maize to see us through the next season if the situation is strategically handled. Of course our farming outputs were not much last farming season but we’ve maize coming out of Zambia and later on we’re looking at importing from countries like Brazil, Mexico and Argentina.”