(HERALD) Cash boost for wheat farmers
Cash boost for wheat farmersBy Zvamaida Murwira
COMMERCIAL wheat and barley growers will be paid a bonus of $29,25 million a tonne while growers of seed for both crops will get $35,1 million a tonne as part of a cocktail of incentives to boost production. The bonus means commercial wheat farmers will now get a total of $71,25 million a tonne since the Grain Marketing Board buys the cereal at $42 million a tonne.
Wheat and barley seed growers — who are paid $50,4 million by seed houses, the Grain Marketing Board and other contractors — will now get a total of $85,5 million a tonne.
Announcing the measures yesterday, Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor Dr Gideon Gono said under the new scheme, wheat and barley farmers for both commercial and seed crops have the option to be paid either 100 percent in local currency or 50 percent in foreign currency with the remainder in local currency.
Wheat and barley prices have been set at US$250 a tonne for commercial production and US$300 a tonne for the seed crop with seed prices being calculated at 20 percent above the producer price of the commercial crop.
Dr Gono was speaking at the weekly Government media briefing at Munhumutapa Building. The weekly briefings were introduced by the Ministry of Information and Publicity last week to keep the nation informed of developments in the agricultural sector, the mainstay of the economy.
Yesterday’s briefing — which was attended by the Minister of Information and Publicity, Cde Sikhanyiso Ndlovu; Minister of Agriculture, Cde Rugare Gumbo; and Minister of Agricultural Engineering, Mechanisation and Irrigation, Cde Joseph Made — was meant to update the media on farming preparations for the 2007/08 farming season.
Farmers who choose to be paid in local currency shall receive $71,25 million a tonne for the commercial crop, calculated at US$250 multiplied by Z$30 000 (the official rate) adjusted by the overnight investment rate, which is currently pegged at 850 percent.
For seed wheat and barley, the grower shall receive $85,5 million a tonne.
Dr Gono said the GMB, registered contractors and seed houses would continue to pay the Government-announced producer price of $42 million a tonne for the commercial crop and $50,4 million a tonne for the seed crop with the central bank paying the bonus balance of $29,25 million a tonne for the commercial crop and $35,1 million for the seed crop.
The central bank will pay US$125 a tonne for the commercial crop and the US$150 a tonne for the seed crop, being 50 percent of the import parity price to growers who choose the foreign currency option.
The foreign currency component will be deposited directly into the individual farmers’ Foreign Currency Accounts, under the same conditions as those applicable to corporate FCAs.
The FCA retention period for farmers shall be a maximum of 30 days during which the farmer can exercise the option to sell their FCA entitlements to the central bank and still access the once-off interest overnight window return.
Dr Gono said the central bank had, within the past 24 hours, finalised the financial and logistical arrangements to import an additional 12 400 metric tonnes of maize seed.
The delivery of the maize seed is expected within the next few days and the seed houses involved have since been granted the import licences by the relevant authorities.
"We have signed contracts for funding arrangements, seed houses have already been given import licences in 45 minutes. That’s uncharacteristic efficiency," said Dr Gono.
"Faxes of import licences were sent to Botswana and Zambia and they have confirmed receipt and said delivery would start next Monday."
The central bank chief said packaging firms have been assisted with funding and would produce 30 million storage bags to be warehoused at an undisclosed place for the next harvest of maize.
"We have secured a line of credit with a Western country for the manufacture of packaging material," he said.
With immediate effect, said Dr Gono, banks are required to decentralise their decision-making to allow processing and disbursement of loans at branch level.
Banks are expected to process all applications from farmers within five days as they were no longer required to submit applications to Fiscorp (Private) Limited Company, a subsidiary of the central bank, disbursing the money within 48 hours.
Applications exceeding $50 billion would continue to be submitted to Fiscorp, and banks are only required to submit schedules of approved projects and total funding required.
"Banks should expeditiously reply to applicants so that if it is a regret they can start looking for alternative sources of funding because seasons know no time or respect bureaucracy. We are now doing away with the bureaucracy in banks," he said.
"Where a branch manager or staff seeks a favour or bribe,, we would like to know. We call upon those people being frustrated to let us know. We are trying to make sure that there is agility in everything."
Turning to the availability of goods in shops, Dr Gono said there has been a marked improvement but people should appreciate the need for a balance between viability of business and affordability.
"There must never be expectations from consumers that prices should be at the same level as three months ago. There is also an animal called inflation and the National Incomes and Pricing Commission. Prices of goods like newspapers, for example, must be decontrolled so that they are available," said Dr Gono.
"Consumers need to realise that in an inflationary environment, it was inevitable that producers need some modicum of price adjustments to create the capacity to meet their next and successive production and purchase order schedules."
He urged the business community to actively interact and conform to guidelines of the NIPC.
Dr Gono said beneficiaries of the Government-initiated farm mechanisation programme would from this week start receiving their invoices.
He said preparations for the third phase of the farm mechanisation programme, set for January next year, had since gathered momentum.
"The coming week marks the delivery of truckloads of implements to various provinces," he said.
Cde Made said Government seeks to fully equip commercial and communal farmers in the next three months with tractors.
"The full impact of mechanisation would be felt next season," said Cde Made.
Cde Gumbo said all provinces must by the end of this week have submitted their cropping programmes and hectarage to his office so that focus would be on production.
He emphasised the need for all households to plant at least one hectare of crops to boost food security.
The Press conference was also attended by Secretary for Information and Publicity Cde George Charamba; Secretary for Agriculture Engineering, Mechanisation and Irrigation Dr Shadreck Mlambo and Secretary for Agriculture Mr Ngoni Masoka.
Labels: GIDEON GONO, JOSEPH MADE, LAND REFORM, MECHANISATION, RUGARE GUMBO, THE HERALD
posted by MrK @ 3:52 AM
4 Comments:
Dear Mr. K, 25th October, 2007
Re: Roy Kalaki’s satires to be on this Site…
I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your consistent work to enlighten Zambians in the Diaspora about current affairs around the globe through your special site. I've come to be part of this blog! The first thing I do in the morning is to read every article you post. I most enjoy reading The Post editorial comments. I can't imagine how life would be for me without your tireless contribution. I live miles away from Zambia but I'm informed of the goings on in my lovely country through your educative site. Honestly speaking, my income is not enough to subscribe to The Post. Man, acknowledge my gratitude!
Brother man, I've observed that your area of interest is mainly economical issues on our planet. What is better than developmental issues anyway? We all need to develop in one way or another and we need our country Zambia to be vibrant economically, socially and of course politically.
I’m one person who enjoys intermingling Zambian politics with humour. When the Post was free for all on the Internet, I would read Roy Kalaki’s hilarious satires every Thursday. Now it's hard for me due to what I’ve pointed out above! Nevertheless, I’ve solace in you because I believe that you could help me to be reading the stuff through your site. Kindly try to make this site informative, educative and entertaining for your loyal fans like me. Roy Clarke has sanitized Zambian politics…thus it would be nice to read how he sums up issues politically every Thursday.
May the good Lord bless you with good healthy and above all…wisdom.
Many thanks…
Reality.
Sometimes I fear for Sata's life. If the Chinese porter could easily steal his passport just like phew…then what could stop them from assassinating him? The big man should be careful...You don't fu.ck around with the Chinese intelligence. Those guys can finish you off in seconds. They are highly trained from childhood just to kill through different methods. They are sent to the best universities in the world to learn everything and all the international languages. Just image how the passport missed in a split of a second?
Eh...Ine na yopa!? Ungafelepo chabe mahala pali Taiwan...
Reality
Reality,
Thanks a lot. I always thought The Post could have done a lot of things to improve their cashflow, short of going subscription only.
(They could have cranked up the number of visitors to their site, increased the time people hang out at their site, and developed alternative streams of income. I seriously wonder how many more people actually subscribe to their site.)
Very few magazines are subscription only, for the obvious reason that it reduces the number of visitors and readers.
Anyway, glad to be of service.
And also,
I focus on the economic side of things, because it might have a real impact on the economy and the country.
Every time you see a price that is higher in Zambia than in the surrounding countries, that is a business opportunity, that can help a lot of people out, as well as make money.
I understand a lot of people like the gossip, but I'll leave that for The Post to benefit from. What I would like to do, is increase the economic interest in Zambia, but in a way that only creates winners (unlike in the mining development agreements, where only western corporations win).
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