Maravi

(HERALD) GMB: A liability to food security?

GMB: A liability to food security?
Thursday, 30 June 2011 01:00
By George Chisoko

The Grain Marketing Board never ceases to amaze. Being the custodian of the country's food security, one would expect it to be on full throttle buying grain from farmers, for its commercial needs and, to replenish the Strategic Grain Reserve (SGR).

On paper, this is precisely what it should be doing at this time of the year but, the situation on the ground shows the GMB management is in total darkness with events occurring at its depots countrywide. There is a lot of corruption, especially the taking of bribes by workers and serious abuse of farmers at the depots.

Even the threat by the Minister of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development Joseph Made a fortnight ago to crack the whip on errant officials seems to have fallen on deaf ears.

The GMB is in a mess and the quicker management acknowledges it, the better.
At any given time, the GMB should hold in its SGR 500 000 tonnes of maize in physical stock and financial equivalent of 336 000 tonnes of maize, giving a total of 936 000 tonnes.

For the GMB to replenish the SGR and get maize for its commercial business, it has to buy from the farmers and, this means coming up with decisions that do not militate against that mission.

Because of the desire to maintain the SGR at the required level and admirably so, the GMB established a chain of depots across the country and set up numerous buying and collection points as it sought to bring top class service to the farmer's doorstep.

Gone are the days when the GMB had monopoly on maize and wheat and farmers had no choice but to sell to the board even in instances when they felt their rights were being trampled upon.

With the opening up of the market, one would think that the GMB would do everything possible to attract farmers to sell.

Granted, the GMB's price of US$285 per tonne is much higher than is being paid by competitors but, it is not only the price that matters to farmers as the treatment they get from officials at the depots has a huge influence on their attitude towards the board.

While the GMB's price is largely very attractive, it is not paid cash on spot, but farmers have to wait longer periods to be paid and this exposes farmers to other buyers paying lower prices.

When a fortnight ago I read a story in which Minister Made warned the GMB officials against abusing farmers, I naively concluded that the minister was just lashing out at GMB for no reason.

I thought the minister was at it again, as a few years ago, I had attended, not one, but several meetings in which he read the riot act to management of parastatals under his ministry.

I remember vividly the tough-talking minister telling Arda management headed then by Dr Joseph Matowanyika to "shape up, or ship out". This was at Nijo farm.

I had another encounter at Ngungunyana boardroom where the minister said to the GMB management headed then by Rtd Colonel Muvuti: "Colleagues, are we together or we are not. I expect an improvement from you, as I will not tolerate any excuses for poor performance".

So, when I read the story in which he warned GMB officials against ill-treating farmers at the depots, I rewinded several years back and thought this was a familiar line from the minister.

I even thought the minister had probably woken up in a bad mood but not until I visited the GMB first to have my maize tested for moisture levels and secondly, to deliver the maize.

I took my maize sample to Glendale GMB depot in Mazowe to have it tested for moisture levels to ascertain its moisture content.

Upon arriving at the depot, where I am a frequent visitor as I sell most of my farm produce at the depot, and after the greetings with the workers, who are all familiar with my wife and myself, I asked them to test my maize sample.

They could not do it until I paid US$5, which I found very unfair, considering that they have records to prove that I do business with them regularly.

The workers referred me to the depot manager who explained why I had to pay the money.

Not that I did not have the money, but I saw no reason of paying when I wanted to deliver the maize to them.

The manager was very understanding and my maize was tested free of charge.
There was zero reading on the machine, indicating the maize was okay in terms of its moisture content and could be delivered to the depot anytime without problems, so I thought.

I however could not deliver the maize to Glendale depot where it had been tested for moisture level because the weighbridge was out of order and officials had asked me to wait for a week to deliver.

I could not wait, as I wanted to free my homestead of stacks of maize and it had also become a security threat, so I hired a 30-tonner truck to deliver the maize to Concession GMB depot, not more than 10 km from Glendale GMB depot.

My wife followed the truck and on arrival at Concession, was told by officials there, after testing the maize, that it had moisture content of 13,7 percent, above the standard 12,5 percent.

We could not believe it as the same maize had been passed fit for delivery at Glendale GMB depot.

So, imagine the loss that I incurred, as the truck had to return the maize to the farm.

This happened on a Friday and on Saturday I went to Concession shops where I intended to have a drink. A group of people that had come to pay lobola then joined me on the braai stand and luckily for me, my friend got to know one guy who works at Concession GMB depot.

I immediately took him to task for sending back my maize. Interestingly, he even identified my wife and the car that she was driving and told me he did not agree with the 13,7 percent moisture content that was assigned to my maize.

He then identified himself to me as Joseph and asked me to call him on Monday to see what could be done.

As I was about to go he then asked if I could buy him a drink or, if we could meet the following day Sunday for drinks to pave the way for the delivery. I could not do any of that and I left for home.

It was thus clear to me that there was a problem at Concession GMB depot.
farmers were having their maize classified as wet when in actual fact it was okay so that they pay bribes to the officials.

It boggles the mind how maize classified as very dry at one GMB depot suddenly fails to pass the test at another GMB depot.

For me, this is the mess that one finds at the depots that needs cleaning up without any further delay.

It is not good at all for the image of the GMB to have officials always wanting to make a quick buck by whatever means.

After all this, I then took the decision to sell the maize elsewhere for US$250 per tonne, as I could not stomach paying a bribe to anyone to deliver maize to the GMB.

There are quite many farmers out there who have met the same fate and I believe drastic action needs to be taken. For this reason, I support Minister Made's threat to GMB officials and the need to investigate the goings-on at the GMB depots.

The warning should not just end as such, but real action should taken against the culprits.

george.chisoko@zimpapers.co.zw

Labels: CORRUPTION, GRAIN MARKETING BOARD ZIMBABWE, JOSEPH MADE

posted by MrK @ 6:01 PM