(HERALD) Govt unveils US$210m agric facility
Govt unveils US$210m agric facilityHerald Reporter
Government, in collaboration with its private sector partners, has unveiled a US$210 million agricultural loan facility for farmers to access inputs ahead of the 2009/10 summer cropping season.
Farmers will repay the loans that would come in the form of fertilizer and seed after they have harvested their crops.
In a statement yesterday, Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Develop-ment Minister Joseph Made said the inputs would be distributed through the Grain Marketing Board’s depots countrywide.
"The inputs will be delivered directly to the 84 GMB depots throughout the country and farmers are encouraged to approach their respective commercial banks either as individuals or as groups where release orders/vouchers will be issued to beneficiaries," said Minister Made.
"The release orders/vouchers will facilitate collection of inputs from the local GMB depots. The CBZ is the lead bank."
Outlining the modalities, Minister Made said delivery schedules based on natural regions’ requirements had been prepared to enable suppliers to deliver inputs to GMB depots for storage.
Farmers would then approach their commercial banks where they would be issued with the release orders/vouchers.
"Banks — in liaison with Agritex — will continuously monitor farmers’ programmes on-farm to ensure consistency with loan disbursements.
"Banks will recover loans on maturity from farmers and remit proceeds to CBZ Bank," said Minister Made, adding that GMB and banks would provide regular updates on implementation programmes.
The minister said arrangements had been made with banks to allow farmers to pay back the loans between May and September 2010 when they had harvested their crops, or alternatively on the maturity of the loan.
"The farmers accessing the inputs supply scheme should note that this is a loan facility and should make sure that the inputs are used to grow crops with the highest level of crop husbandry to attain higher yields per unit area in order to raise income to repay the loan," he said.
The development is a major boost for many farmers who had been appealing to the Government for funding ahead of the rains.
Government sources last night said the latest scheme is in addition to one proposed by an inter-ministerial workforce that has reportedly pledged to mobilise agricultural inputs for one million smallholder families.
Farmers have been appealing for assistance in the wake of the introduction of the multi-currency system.
Minister Made said the total package included 125 000 tonnes of compound fertilizer, 185 000 tonnes of top dressing fertilizer, 13 500 tonnes of maize seed, and 5 580 tonnes of seed for small grain production.
He said his ministry had started signing contracts for the supply of inputs under the first tranche valued at US$100 million.
These are Compound D (90 000 tonnes), urea (23 850 tonnes), Ammonium Nitrate (32 000 tonnes), sorghum seed (1 000 tonnes) and hybrid maize seed (7 500 tonnes).
Targeted farmers include those allocated farms under the A1 and A2 models in the land reform programme, communal farmers, their old resettlement counterparts and large-scale commercial farmers.
The minister said empty grain bags would also be supplied to farmers wishing to deliver to the GMB any produce realised from the scheme.
He urged farmers to always study weather patterns and seek assistance from their Agritex officers.
Minister Made said his staff would be in the field to monitor progress as well help farmers throughout the season.
To ensure timeous and effective distribution of the inputs to farmers, Government had put in place a distribution framework whose implementation modalities had been discussed and agreed upon by the farming unions and the banks involved.
These are the Zimbabwe National Farmers’ Union, the Zimbabwe Farmers’ Union, the Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers’ Union and the Commercial Farmers’ Union.
Also represented at the meeting were the Bankers’ Association of Zimbabwe and GMB.
Government’s private sector partners in the scheme include African Invest-ments Group and ASP Marketing.
Late last week, an inter-ministerial meeting agreed on a US$106 million scheme to supply one million smallholder households with inputs ahead of the farming season.
Labels: AGRICULTURE, GRAIN MARKETING BOARD, JOSEPH MADE
posted by MrK @ 5:48 PM
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