Maravi

(TALKZIMBABWE) Harvests ready but no cash to purchase

Harvests ready but no cash to purchase
Dyke Sithole
Sun, 13 Jul 2008 08:02:00 +0000

MOST farmers have just finished harvesting their products and the selling season has reached its peak this month, but many companies in the agro-based industry in Zimbabwe are failing to purchase crops harvested this season. This is because when farmers deliver their produce; their outlets do not have ready cash available to pay the farmers.

Sources in the industry revealed that although farmers are rushing to sell their soya beans and paprika, companies lack the capacity to pay cash for the products, and players in the sector yesterday confirmed that there is a cash flow crisis in the agro-based industry that needed to be urgently addressed.

Jairos Dlomo, Managing Director of Soya Beans Africa said the price of soya beans is increasingly becoming very expensive and most companies are finding it difficulty to buy the crop.

“My company buys soya beans in large quantities and processes the product. Because of the current cash withdrawal restrictions we are unable to purchase as much as soya beans we would have wanted. We are appealing to Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) to exempt us from the daily cash withdrawal limits.”

Soya bean output was projected at more than 70 000 tonnes last season, with the crop selling at between $5 trillion/tonne and $10 trillion/tonne.

It was also learnt that a lot of companies buying paprika were also facing similar problems. Officials buying paprika in some areas have been promising to pay farmers later.

A number of companies that buy paprika include Paprika Zimbabwe and Cairns. Although officials from Paprika Zimbabwe and Cairns could not be reached for comment, a buyer with Paprika Zimbabwe who spoke on condition of anonymity said his company was buying the crop but would pay farmers later.

However some farmers are opposed to the arrangement arguing that by the time they will be paid the money would have lost value due to inflation.

Some companies are said to have sought an audience last week with the RBZ to negotiate for “cheap money” under the Agricultural Sector Productivity Enhancement Facility (ASPEF), which would enable companies to buy farmers produce.

Two months ago the RBZ introduced special agro cheques of five billion twenty five billion and fifty billion dollars in an effort to facilitate transactions within the agro industry. The measure, has however, been ineffective as the new notes have been eroded by inflation and have become the common notes for the ordinary consumer.

The highest note for the ordinary consume five hundred million dollars is no longer useful as prices of basic commodities and services are now all well over a billion dollars with the cost of commuting in the cities now averaging fifteen billion dollars.

Labels: FARMING, SOYA, ZIMBABWE

posted by MrK @ 5:15 PM