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Munyaradzi Musiiwa Midlands Correspondent
THE Government will soon avail about $55 million to the Grain Marketing Board (GMB) to settle outstanding payments for farmers who delivered their grain to the national granary this season.

In an interview, Deputy Minister of Agriculture Mechanisation and Irrigation Development, Davis Marapira, said the funds would enable farmers to acquire farming inputs in time ahead of the 2014-2015 summer cropping season.

GMB owes farmers $37 million in outstanding payments and farmers have been complaining over the delays in paying them.

Deputy Minister Marapira said farmers should not be inconvenienced ahead of the summer cropping season and the government would ensure that farming inputs were distributed on time.

“Government will avail about $55 million to GMB to clear outstanding payments to farmers who delivered their grain. The money will be made available soon so that we do not inconvenience our farmers as they prepare for the 2014-2015 summer cropping season.

“All farmers shall receive their money as soon as possible,” he said.

The Deputy Minister said the ministry had started distributing farming inputs under the Presidential Input Support Scheme.

He said Midlands and Mashonaland provinces had already started receiving the inputs while other provinces would receive their allocations before the end of the month.

Deputy Minister Marapira said President Mugabe had added cotton and cowpeas to this year’s input support programme.

“We have started distributing the farming inputs to smallholder and community farmers. We are targeting 1,6 million families across the country. We have since increased the inputs and added cotton and cowpeas. Each family will receive 25kg sorghum, 20kg cotton seed, 5kg cowpeas seed, 10kg seed maize, 150kg Compound D fertilizer, 150kg Ammonium Nitrate and 150kg lime,” he said.

Last year, smallholder farmers contributed 200,000 metric tonnes of maize to the granary while some are still delivering their grain to the GMB. The farmers had received 10kg of seed maize, 50kg of ammonium nitrate (AN) fertilizer and 50kg of compound D while those in agro-ecological regions that receive little rain received 5kg of sorghum or millet seed each.