GMB to turn around its fortunes
Wednesday, 02 May 2012 00:00
Bright Madera Senior Business Reporter
THE Grain Marketing Board says it will return to profitability within the 12 months, underpinned by an improvement in sales performance and other income-generating operations. The loss-making parastatal is also realigning its business with staff reduction and restructuring of its operations, separating the Strategic Grain Reserve from its commercial activities.
GMB chairman Mr Charles Chikaura said increasing grain intake, cost maintenance and concentration on value addition has managed to reduce losses, which should lead to profitability.
According to audited financials, the parastatal made a loss of US$18,7 million in 2010, before recording another loss of US$6,2 million in 2011.
“A further reduced loss of US$1,5 million is projected for the financial year ending March 2012,” said Mr Chikaura.
Sales revenue for GMB was US$11,6 million in 2010, before increasing to US$14,7 million in 2011, representing a 26 percent positive variance.
Mr Chikaura said sales for the year ending March 2012 are projected to be US$19,5 million, a 33 percent increase.
Marginal revenue increases were also seen in other income-generating ventures, with the Strategic Grain Reserve, handling and storage turning over US$4,4 million in 2010 to US$29,2 million in 2011, thanks to an increase in grain intake.
These are expected to increase by 11 percent to US$34,1 million for the 12 months ending March 31, 2012. During the same period, maize intake went up 81 percent from 35 000 metric tonnes in 2009 to 63 469 metric tonnes in 2010 and by 294 percent to 249 792 metric tonnes in 2011.
“It is projected that the 2012 marketing season intake will increase by 20 percent from 2010/2011 figures to about 300 000 metric tonnes.
“This is anticipated to increase handling revenue by for GMB,” said Mr Chikaura.
Meanwhile, GMB is set to be unbundled into five strategic commercial units as part of Government’s parastatals’ rationalisation programme involving 78 State-owned enterprises.
GMB unbundled after it cleared its accounts, dating back to 2008 and structured its board of directors in line with the corporate governance framework.
Mr Chikaura said joint venture proposals are under consideration by the Government.
The board says the proposed separation of the Strategic Grain Reserve from commercial activities will enhance efficiency and improve profitability.
“In order to achieve strategic alignment, GMB intends to reduce staffing levels to 1 300 permanent employees through a combination of organisational restructuring and retrenchment by the end of the 2012/2013 financial year,” said Mr Chikaura.
Labels: GRAIN MARKETING BOARD ZIMBABWE
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Corruption at GMB
Wednesday, 25 April 2012 00:00
Herald Reporter
THE Zanu-PF Mashonaland Central provincial leadership has urged Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development Minister Joseph Made to launch investigations into the operations of the Grain Marketing Board in the province.
Provincial chairperson, Cde Dickson Mafios, told President Mugabe during the launch of the First Choice Wholesale concept in Mt Darwin last week that there was rampant corruption at GMB depots.
“There is corruption and we want the minister to investigate this,” said Cde Mafios.
He was addressing hundreds of people who converged at Mt Darwin Secondary School to witness the launch of the First Choice Wholesale scheme.
Cde Mafios said there was need for constant monitoring of GMB operations in the province as grain and inputs meant for the poor were being diverted and benefiting a few senior officials.
Mashonaland Central provincial Governor Advocate Martin Dinha raised similar complaints last month during a tour of the province by Vice President Joice Mujuru.
Labels: CORRUPTION, GRAIN MARKETING BOARD ZIMBABWE, ITAI DICKSON MAFIOS, JOSEPH MADE, ZANU-PF
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Farmers likely to miss winter wheat planting deadline: ZFU
Saturday, 14 April 2012 18:36
Emilia Zindi
Agriculture Editor
The Zimbabwe Farmers’ Union (ZFU) has bemoaned the late introduction of the US$20 million Winter Wheat Scheme by Government, saying farmers are likely to miss next month’s planting deadline due to the red tape involved in accessing the funds.
Last week, Government unveiled the scheme which is expected to see wheat growers accessing vouchers from CBZ Bank. The vouchers should be produced before one can collect inputs from Grain Marketing Board (GMB) depots.
ZFU executive director Mr Paul Zakariya welcomed the scheme, but called for the timely disbursement of funds.
“Effectively, Government via GMB, CBZ and wheat farmers have about 16 days to put their house in order, which seems impossible,” he said.
“Ideally, the country should be through with planning for wheat by February at the latest.”
Mr Zakariya advocated wide stakeholder consultations before the crafting and implementation of input support programmes.
He urged Zesa Holdings and the Zimbabwe National Water Authority to honour commitments to provide uninterrupted electricity and water respectively.
He also called on Government to explore the possibility of having critical service providers introduce concessionary rates for farmers, saying farmers are being forced to fork out US$700 to irrigate a hectare each month.
“It is not sustainable to have a farmer use US$2 800 to irrigate each hectare he has under wheat per season.
“Over the years, focus has been on providing farmers with subsidised inputs, but that is only part of the equation.
“Agriculture is the backbone of the economy. It is, however, operating below capacity because of a lack of seriousness by those that are expected to support it.
“Farmers are ready to produce food for the nation, but have been badly let down by lack of support from the relevant stakeholders.”
Analysts note that the timely payment of farmers by the GMB is also critical in boosting wheat production.
Most farmers are yet to be paid for grain delivered last season.
Speaking at the launch of the Winter Wheat Scheme, Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development Minister Joseph Made said the US$20 million allocated for the initiative should result in 26 280 hectares of land going under wheat.
“We are proposing that we target 26 280 hectares of winter wheat and the requirement is US$20 million. This targeted hectarage should give us a production of 75 000 metric tonnes,” he said.
Dr Made said the inputs will be distributed through the GMB at cost price as part of moves to prevent unscrupulous individuals from accessing subsidised inputs and then reselling them at exorbitant prices.
“Inputs would be accessed at cost price under a credit arrangement. The money as financed would be at a concessionary interest rate of 3 percent.
“We are trying to avoid arbitrage because there were some farmers who pick up the inputs and then resell them.
“Each participating farmer would receive a voucher from CBZ and upon receipt of that voucher delivered wheat for the previous season in order to access inputs.”
Labels: GRAIN MARKETING BOARD ZIMBABWE, JOSEPH MADE, WHEAT, ZFU (ZIMBABWE)
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Farmers get reprieve
Sunday, 04 March 2012 00:00
Agriculture Editor
Treasury has released US$22,5 million for payment to farmers who delivered maize and wheat to the Grain Marketing Board (GMB) during the 2011/12 grain marketing season. The GMB is expected to disburse the funds through the Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) system, starting this week.
In a statement yesterday, GMB corporate communications manager Mr Joseph Katete said the concerned farmers should check their bank accounts. He said the parastatal and Agribank agreed that the money should be paid through the financial institution.
“We wish to advise farmers who delivered their wheat and maize to the national granary during the 2011/12 season that Treasury has released a total amount of US$22,5 million to cover the payment of wheat and maize for the 2011/12 season,’’ he said. Mr Katete said the payment would be disbursed to Agribank, FBC Bank, CBZ and Standard Chartered, among other financial institutions.
“We appeal to the above-mentioned disbursing banks to ensure availability of cash and speedy processing of the RTGS so as to minimise inconveniences to the farming community,’’ he said.
He said GMB provincial accountants would liaise with their respective banks to accelerate transactions.
Labels: GRAIN MARKETING BOARD ZIMBABWE, JOSEPH KATETE
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Wheat farmers still to be paid
Saturday, 21 January 2012 18:52
Faith Mhandu
Wheat farmers who delivered grain to the Grain Marketing Board (GMB) during the 2007/2008 marketing season are still to receive
outstanding payments amounting to US$4 million owing to disagreements between the parastatal and the Ministry of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development over the issue.
GMB management continues to refer the farmers to the parent ministry while the ministry, in turn, insists the parastatal is better placed to deal with the matter.
In an interview last week, Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers’ Union director Mr Peter Gambara accused the GMB and the ministry of disadvantaging wheat producers.
“The GMB has been arguing that it is not their responsibility to pay the debt, saying Cabinet had already undertaken to pay us,” he said.
“I delivered 21 tonnes for which I have not received a single cent. Initially, it was said they were going to pay us by swapping inputs, but this, too, did not materialise.
“The GMB was then made to compile a list of farmers with outstanding payments. We did that, but did not receive anything. Farmers are losing faith in Government and the GMB.”
GMB general manager Mr Albert Mandizha said Cabinet approved the payment through the Ministry of Finance. He said the matter was no longer in his institution’s hands.
He said although farmers were still inquiring, the parastatal still awaited Government to act.
“The Minister of Agriculture held a Press conference in 2010 to announce that Cabinet had approved the payment of farmers for the 2007/08 season,” he said.
“It is no longer up to the GMB to pay, but the ministries of Finance and Agriculture.”
The Secretary for Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development, Mr Ngoni Masoka, maintained the GMB was better placed to handle the matter.
“The general manager of GMB is in the best position to answer since they are the ones responsible. He knows what is happening,” said Mr Masoka.
Labels: GRAIN MARKETING BOARD ZIMBABWE, MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE MECHANISATION AND IRRIGATION (ZIMBABWE), WHEAT
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Wheat farmers still to be paid
Saturday, 21 January 2012 18:52
Faith Mhandu
Wheat farmers who delivered grain to the Grain Marketing Board (GMB) during the 2007/2008 marketing season are still to receive outstanding payments amounting to US$4 million owing to disagreements between the parastatal and the Ministry of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development over the issue.
GMB management continues to refer the farmers to the parent ministry while the ministry, in turn, insists the parastatal is better placed to deal with the matter.
In an interview last week, Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers’ Union director Mr Peter Gambara accused the GMB and the ministry of disadvantaging wheat producers.
“The GMB has been arguing that it is not their responsibility to pay the debt, saying Cabinet had already undertaken to pay us,” he said.
“I delivered 21 tonnes for which I have not received a single cent. Initially, it was said they were going to pay us by swapping inputs, but this, too, did not materialise.
“The GMB was then made to compile a list of farmers with outstanding payments. We did that, but did not receive anything. Farmers are losing faith in Government and the GMB.”
GMB general manager Mr Albert Mandizha said Cabinet approved the payment through the Ministry of Finance. He said the matter was no longer in his institution’s hands.
He said although farmers were still inquiring, the parastatal still awaited Government to act.
“The Minister of Agriculture held a Press conference in 2010 to announce that Cabinet had approved the payment of farmers for the 2007/08 season,” he said.
“It is no longer up to the GMB to pay, but the ministries of Finance and Agriculture.”
The Secretary for Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development, Mr Ngoni Masoka, maintained the GMB was better placed to handle the matter.
“The general manager of GMB is in the best position to answer since they are the ones responsible. He knows what is happening,” said Mr Masoka.
Labels: GRAIN MARKETING BOARD ZIMBABWE, WHEAT
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Over 13 000t fertiliser, 1 000t seed distributed to farmers: GMB
Wednesday, 11 January 2012 00:00
Herald Reporter
THE Grain Marketing Board has distributed to farmers 1 164 tonnes of seed, 5 554 tonnes of ammonium nitrate and 7 737 tonnes of compound D fertilisers since last week. This is being done under the Input Loan Scheme, which is an amalgamation of three Government input schemes designed to ensure that farmers access inputs in time.
The three schemes are the US$30 million inputs facility swap programme, US$45,4 million subsidised programme and the US$56,2 million agricultural commercial funding programme.
In a statement yesterday, GMB general manager Mr Albert Mandizha said some suppliers contracted by Government were yet to deliver the inputs.
"A total of 33 320 tonnes of compound D, 26 487 tonnes of ammonium nitrate and 4 668 tonnes of seed have not yet been delivered by the contracted farmers," he said. "Farmers will be advised as and when these deliveries are made to the GMB so that they collect the inputs."
Mr Mandizha said GMB was monitoring the distribution of inputs to ensure accountability and making sure that all farmers access them. "Due to limited quantities of inputs at GMB depots, our depot managers resorted to rationalise the allocation to ensure that more farmers benefit from the loan scheme," he said. "At some depots, managers took the initiative to engage local leadership to assist in order to achieve fairness in distribution."
He said they had visited 11 depots coun-trywide to assess the distribution process while eight other depots were being audited to ensure corporate governance issues were being observed.
Mr Mandizha said all GMB depots were open during the festive holidays to enable farmers to access the inputs.
He dismissed some media reports that GMB opened during the public holidays to favour certain farmers.
"The intention was not malicious as now being purported by some sections of the media, rather the crack response was to enable farmers to take advantage of the wet spell and utilise that as a planting window," he said.
Under the Input Loan Scheme, communal farmers should get at least 25kg of maize seed, 200kg of basal fertiliser and 100kg of top dressing while A1 farmers are entitled to 50kg of maize seed, 400kg and 200kg of top dressing fertiliser. A2 farmers are getting inputs enough to cover 100 hectares.
Labels: FERTILIZER, GRAIN MARKETING BOARD ZIMBABWE
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Farmers cry foul over GMB’s handling of inputs
Monday, 06 February 2012 00:00
Herald Reporters
FARMERS have accused the Grain Marketing Board of conniving with politicians and
other influential people to abuse inputs meant to benefit the majority of Zimbabweans. This has affected production amid fears of food shortages this year.
But, GMB has denied the allegations saying their investigations have established that input distribution has been done above board.
Farmers say political leaders have prejudiced intended beneficiaries of Government's input schemes, with some giving eyewitness accounts where they saw truckloads of fertiliser and other inputs being taken to some politicians' farms, leaving them stranded.
Several GMB depots have been cited as worst affected by the alleged corrupt activities.
These include Mhondoro- Ngezi, Buhera, Norton and Karoi depots.
GMB, however, vehemently denied the corruption claims, saying investigations conducted at the cited depots established that there was adherence to set standards on inputs distribution.
Said GMB spokesperson Mrs Muriel Zemura: "In relation to the distribution of inputs, complaints and allegations from affected farmers prompted the GMB to investigate each and every case that was brought to our attention."
She said they received 19 reports of corruption between January 3 and 25 this year.
"Investigations for 18 of the cases have been completed and were found to be false allegations or no substantial evidence as alleged was found. One case is still being investigated."
Management at GMB, Mrs Zemura said, did not condone corruption.
"As a result, the GMB continuously carries out investigations whenever necessary, for example, when we receive tip offs from members of the public," she said.
GMB continues to give technical advice to Government on how best farmers can benefit from national inputs programmes.
"The fertliser available at the depots is only 32 percent of the contracted tonnage that has been delivered so far.
"All these challenges could have been avoided if adequate quantities of inputs were made available in time," she said.
An official with the Ministry of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development said fertiliser companies were still in the process of supplying Government with the commodity.
The official said the Government only received 32 percent of the ordered inputs while the remainder will be delivered after payment by Treasury.
Fertiliser companies only released 13 000 tonnes at the beginning of the farming season.
The official said fertiliser companies could now be supplying directly into the market after Government failed to pay for the commodity.
But farmers blame input shortages on mismanagement.
They feel the systems have loopholes.
Zimbabwe Farmers Union director Mr Paul Zakariya said some "undeserving" people secured fertiliser at subsidised prices and were reselling it on the parallel market.
"There is need for people to go back into the formal structures of doing things.
"Those distributing inputs should do so with a measure of accountability. It is disturbing that a few people can cause the shortages by mismanaging resources," he said.
Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers Union president Mr Donald Khumalo also blamed the shortages on mismanagement.
"A single person may receive inputs from different schemes, depriving other deserving farmers of the commodities.
"We should refocus on the input schemes to ensure deserving farmers only have access to farming inputs," he said.
Mr Khumalo said people who accessed cheap inputs do not even belong to any farmers' union and do not have track records on farming.
"The schemes should be designed for productivity so that all inputs are channelled to farming."
Labels: GRAIN MARKETING BOARD ZIMBABWE
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COMMENT - The MDC is sabotaging agriculture by underfunding it. Clearly they don't have any confidence in Zimbabwean farmers failing on their own. They want to declare the land reform program a failure, so they can reverse it. Typical TEA Party tactics.
GMB boss slams Biti
Wednesday, 01 February 2012 00:00
Zvamaida Murwira Herald Reporter
Grain Marketing Board general manager Mr Albert Mandizha has slammed Finance Minister Tendai Biti for failing to pay inputs suppliers on time for the summer season. He said this had seen
only 32 percent of total inputs for the 2011/2012 season being delivered to date.Mr Mandizha said Treasury left it until late into December to conclude procurement facilities with suppliers. Giving oral evidence before the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Agriculture, Water, Lands and Resettlement, Mr Mandizha said the acute shortage has attracted a huge outcry from farmers. The committee was interested to know why farmers were failing to access inputs.
Mr Mandizha said suppliers had delivered US$8 million worth of inputs under the stop-order facility. The facility was expected to deliver US$18 million worth of inputs.
He said GMB was still receiving compound D fertilizers because of delays in payment.
"We are inundated with enquiries as to when inputs are coming. The fertiliser supply is desperate and causing serious inconveniences to farmers," he said.
Muzarabani South MP, Cde Edward Raradza (Zanu-PF) questioned the rationale behind giving a single farmer 1 600 bags of fertiliser in January.
Goromonzi North MP, Cde Paddy Zhanda (Zanu-PF) asked GMB's strategic role on advising the Government to make sound decisions.
Mr Mandizha said while they proffer technical advice to Government, they were duty bound to comply with orders. He said they were directed to "immediately" distribute inputs, and to them, this meant opening depots during public holidays since time was running out.
"It was raining and we said no one should go on holiday, the directive was to be implemented immediately. GMB should be commended for working throughout the holiday," he said.
The GMB management has since ordered depots to furnish its head office with details of beneficiaries with a view to establish whether there was any abuse or not.
Cde Zhanda asked how the producer price is justified when some farmers would have secured inputs at subsidised prices. He questioned GMB's continued distribution of fertiliser when the season was almost over.
Mr Mandizha said farmers tended to ignore inputs from the open market waiting for subsidised ones from Government.
Labels: GRAIN MARKETING BOARD ZIMBABWE, TENDAI BITI
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Wheat farmers still to be paid
Saturday, 21 January 2012 18:52
Faith Mhandu
Wheat farmers who delivered grain to the Grain Marketing Board (GMB) during the 2007/2008 marketing season are still to receive outstanding payments amounting to US$4 million owing to disagreements between the parastatal and the Ministry of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development over the issue.
GMB management continues to refer the farmers to the parent ministry while the ministry, in turn, insists the parastatal is better placed to deal with the matter.
In an interview last week, Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers’ Union director Mr Peter Gambara accused the GMB and the ministry of disadvantaging wheat producers.
“The GMB has been arguing that it is not their responsibility to pay the debt, saying Cabinet had already undertaken to pay us,” he said.
“I delivered 21 tonnes for which I have not received a single cent. Initially, it was said they were going to pay us by swapping inputs, but this, too, did not materialise.
“The GMB was then made to compile a list of farmers with outstanding payments. We did that, but did not receive anything. Farmers are losing faith in Government and the GMB.”
GMB general manager Mr Albert Mandizha said Cabinet approved the payment through the Ministry of Finance. He said the matter was no longer in his institution’s hands.
He said although farmers were still inquiring, the parastatal still awaited Government to act.
“The Minister of Agriculture held a Press conference in 2010 to announce that Cabinet had approved the payment of farmers for the 2007/08 season,” he said.
“It is no longer up to the GMB to pay, but the ministries of Finance and Agriculture.”
The Secretary for Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development, Mr Ngoni Masoka, maintained the GMB was better placed to handle the matter.
“The general manager of GMB is in the best position to answer since they are the ones responsible. He knows what is happening,” said Mr Masoka.
Labels: GRAIN MARKETING BOARD ZIMBABWE, WHEAT
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Over 13 000t fertiliser, 1 000t seed distributed to farmers: GMB
Wednesday, 11 January 2012 00:00
Herald Reporter
THE Grain Marketing Board has distributed to farmers 1 164 tonnes of seed, 5 554 tonnes of ammonium nitrate and 7 737 tonnes of compound D fertilisers since last week. This is being done under the Input Loan Scheme, which is an amalgamation of three Government input schemes designed to ensure that farmers access inputs in time.
The three schemes are the US$30 million inputs facility swap programme, US$45,4 million subsidised programme and the US$56,2 million agricultural commercial funding programme.
In a statement yesterday, GMB general manager Mr Albert Mandizha said some suppliers contracted by Government were yet to deliver the inputs.
"A total of 33 320 tonnes of compound D, 26 487 tonnes of ammonium nitrate and 4 668 tonnes of seed have not yet been delivered by the contracted farmers," he said. "Farmers will be advised as and when these deliveries are made to the GMB so that they collect the inputs."
Mr Mandizha said GMB was monitoring the distribution of inputs to ensure accountability and making sure that all farmers access them.
"Due to limited quantities of inputs at GMB depots, our depot managers resorted to rationalise the allocation to ensure that more farmers benefit from the loan scheme," he said.
"At some depots, managers took the initiative to engage local leadership to assist in order to achieve fairness in distribution."
He said they had visited 11 depots coun-trywide to assess the distribution process while eight other depots were being audited to ensure corporate governance issues were being observed.
Mr Mandizha said all GMB depots were open during the festive holidays to enable farmers to access the inputs.
He dismissed some media reports that GMB opened during the public holidays to favour certain farmers.
"The intention was not malicious as now being purported by some sections of the media, rather the crack response was to enable farmers to take advantage of the wet spell and utilise that as a planting window," he said.
Under the Input Loan Scheme, communal farmers should get at least 25kg of maize seed, 200kg of basal fertiliser and 100kg of top dressing while A1 farmers are entitled to 50kg of maize seed, 400kg and 200kg of top dressing fertiliser. A2 farmers are getting inputs enough to cover 100 hectares.
Labels: FERTILIZER, GRAIN MARKETING BOARD ZIMBABWE
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Shameless corruption at Guruve GMB
Saturday, 07 January 2012 21:33
If President Mugabe had been at Guruve Grain Marketing Board depot last week, he would have shaken his head in total disbelief.
His Presidential Wellwishers’ Input Scheme, with good intentions of benefiting especially the most underprivileged farmers, was being looted left, right and centre by party bigwigs, influential businessmen, kombi drivers and conductors, with the intended beneficiaries ending up with nothing.
It was corruption in broad daylight, shameless corruption, which puts the name of the party and Government to shame, corruption which puts the name of the President in bad light. One farmer summed it all up on Wednesday afternoon:
“President Mugabe has been a wonderful President since independence and is a wonderful person, with wonderful deeds, but his messengers are the ones that mess it up for him all the time.”
As part of the Presidential Inputs Scheme, GMB depots around the country received fertilisers and seed for onward distribution to farmers. Many farmers saw this as a welcome move, considering that agriculture has been suffering from insufficient funding from banks and central government, at the behest of Minister Tendai Biti. So, it was with bated breath that most farmers waited for the distribution of the inputs.
According to a soldier who farms in the Bickdale area, speaking in confidence, the looting started on Sunday and continued on Monday. This was done because it was a holiday and most people were unaware that the depot was open for such an exercise.
The soldier got 200 bags of compound D, but he is not the only one. Some farmers and businessmen got as much as 300 bags each. An MP from Mazowe district, name supplied, got his allocation from Guruve instead of Mvurwi or Centenary GMB (that is if he did not get anything from there). By Wednesday, when the depot was opened to the public, there was so much chaos that the depot manager, Mr Obert Zhoya, and Guruve’s outgoing District Administrator, one Rupiya, were almost man-handled, with most farmers alleging they were at the centre of the corruption. Police had to intervene.
The picture in Guruve could have been replicated elsewhere in the country, for GMB systems are pathetically the same, with a common thread of corruption. Whilst the goings-on at Guruve GMB may have only been a tip of the iceberg, there are several lessons to be learnt.
The first and foremost being that corruption is the biggest cancer this country is facing, and has been institutionalised, especially in some Government departments. You cannot easily get a passport, you cannot pass through a roadblock without bribing an officer, you cannot get a school place without shaking the headmaster’s hand, etc.
Corruption is the biggest evil we have on our hands, and the more society keeps quiet, the more dangerous it will become. It was sad seeing an influential farmer driving off with 300 bags of fertiliser, within an hour of arriving at Guruve GMB, yet an elderly grandmother who had braved two days of hunger, scorching heat, mosquitoes, sleeping in the open and being tossed between the DA’s office and the depot, only to get two bags.
Mr Matthew Mpfurutsa, a councillor for Ward 5, could not have put it better. “The depot manager should have called, first, a meeting of councillors, village heads and chiefs and we should have worked out a formula on how to distribute the inputs.
“We would have looked at the number of wards we have, how many people are in each ward and, probably, have come up with a fair way of distributing the fertilisers.
“But in his wisdom, rather lack of, the depot manager called his friends first and they looted the allocated tonnage and then called in the communal farmers last, to receive two bags each.”
This is not the first time the Government has been supporting farmers and probably is not the last — and it is time mechanisms are put in place to allow for equitable distribution of resources, especially critical resources like farming inputs. Chances are the businessmen and farmers who got 200 to 300 bags had already prepared for the current season and will stock their loot for next season, yet there is a farmer who is yearning to till just a piece of land to feed his family.
And the sad part being that the businessman or farmer who got 200 or 300 bags does not even bother going to the polling station. Yet, the elderly grandmother who spent two nights sleeping in the open to receive two bags is the voter, is the one who is going to decide whether we keep our sovereignty or not in the next election. So, what impression of the President will that voter have, having spent two days and two nights in the open to receive two bags, yet someone just drove in and out within an hour, and with 200 bags?
That is why the President’s messengers are not the proper messengers. The scenario that played itself out last week in Guruve was reminiscent of the days when farmers got diesel the other year to support their farming activities. The levels of corruption then were so nauseous that it was not uncommon to see a farmer with over 2 000 litres of diesel and no tillage done on the land.
The bad thing is that President Mugabe does not get to know some of these things, chances are most of the times he is lied to, he is told other tall tales, that the fertilisers have reached the people, yet, in essence, they would have reached only a handful. If the President and Government want to support farmers, they should put in place mechanisms, like in this instance, the fertilisers were got on a credit basis.
The farmers would pay for them in the next season at US$15 per bag. One alternative would have been to ask farmers to pay US$15 cash upfront, like now, and get their fertilisers.
Chances are the fertilisers were going to be bought by the same looters, who can afford it, whereas the poor elderly grandmother cannot. Next option would have been the see-who-delivered-what, and the allocation should have been based on those who delivered more getting more. But then again, with the corruption that has been dogging the parastatal, some farmers were delivering maize they would have imported from neighbouring countries. The other option would have been to consider those who have not yet received payment from GMB for deliveries made last year — for those are most likely to be genuine farmers for the corrupt ones have already been paid. But all these mechanisms, one way or the other, would have disadvantaged the elderly grandmother, who could not have delivered anything.
This leaves the option of liaising with councillors, village heads and chiefs as the most logical, because they know their people and are in touch with the grassroots.
That way, the inputs would have gotten to the intended beneficiaries and the President’s intentions and messages would have been received. But as it stands, some are cursing the President, yet the President has done nothing wrong. There are people in the mix who are spoiling the President’s name and works and the earlier those people are rooted out the better, especially that we are facing such a landmark election.
There have been arguments that maize is cheaper in Zambia and Malawi, with some contending that it is because inputs in those countries are largely subsidised.
Government can argue that it does not have money to subsidise inputs but what happened last week in Guruve is an example of subsidised inputs being looted. So, in a way, we can afford to subsidise. If we can afford to subsidise our inputs, our grain becomes equally cheaper and the effects can be felt across the economy. Gradually, there should be no harm in selling fertilisers at US$15 across the board, with Government picking up the other tab.
That way, we should get our agriculture back on track. In conclusion, if the President has other upcoming ideas of helping the common people, the people who will vote for him, he should ensure that the people that he is sending are responsible people and are not tarnishing his name instead. It is a must-win election that we are facing.
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Labels: GRAIN MARKETING BOARD ZIMBABWE
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Give communal farmers a chance: Shamu
Friday, 06 January 2012 00:00
Chinhoyi Bureau
COMMERCIAL farmers and other large scale farmers should give A1 and communal farmers a chance to get inputs under the various schemes, including the Presidential Well-Wishers inputs scheme while they work out alternative means, Zanu-PF national political commissar Cde Webster Shamu has said.
His remarks come in the wake of reports that some influential people including large scale commercial farmers took the larger chunk of the inputs that were on offer at the various GMB depots across the country at the expense of small-scale farmers.
Cde Shamu was speaking at the burial of Mashonaland West province women's league political commissar Cde Enia Nyathi who died on Tuesday morning after a short illness.
He said corruption had the effect of disenfranchising Zanu-PF as a party and the ordinary people before calling for the Grain Marketing Board to devise ways of ensuring equitable distribution of the inputs.
"We cannot have a situation where one person comes and gets 40 tonnes of fertiliser at the expense of someone who needs 500kgs for a successful season.
"Commercial farmers and A2 farmers have the capacity to apply for loans and access to various facilities," he said.
Turning to Cde Nyathi, whose Chimurenga name was Chenjerai Mauto, Cde Shamu said she stood for the safeguarding of the country's sovereignty.
All Zimbabweans, he said should emulate Cde Nyathi while working to bring unity in the party and the country which leads to development.
He said steps should be put in place to organise structures from the cell level in the province and the country by the end of January, leading to the organi- sation of the district and provincial structures.
Also speaking at the burial Mashona- land West governor and Resident Minister Faber Chidarikire said the province had lost a gallant heroine who stood for the development and independence of the country.
Cde Nyathi joined the liberation struggle in 1976 and went for training two years later at Chimoio Training Camp.
Cde Nyathi operated in the Musikavanhu Sector in Manica Province. At ceasefire she went to Manyene assembly Point before joining the Public Service under the Ministry of Youth Development and Indigenisation where she worked as a youth officer until the time of her death.
Labels: A1 FARMERS, AGRICULTURE, GRAIN MARKETING BOARD ZIMBABWE, WEBSTER SHAMU
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COMMENT - Finance Minister Tendai Biti (MDC) is holding the payment of farmers for goods delivered to the Grain Marketing Board hostage to his political demand for a 'land audit'. Sound familiar? Typical 'TEA party' tactics. In the process, he is putting next year's harvest in jeopardy.
Biti: Cabinet ministers among failed farmers
29/10/2011 00:00:00
by Staff Reporter
FINANCE Minister Tendai Biti has defended his agriculture funding record insisting criticism of his policies was only coming from failed farmers, among them ministers in the country’s coalition government.
Bit has come under fire from cabinet colleagues accusing him of undermining the country’s land reforms by “refusing” to adequately fund the Grain Marketing Board (GMB) and help farmers procure inputs. Defence Minister, Emmerson Mnangagwa recently said the GMB was failing to pay farmers for grain supplies after being refused funding by Biti.
“We are worried that farmers struggle to get agricultural inputs due to lack of funds when they are owed huge sums of money by the GMB,” Mnangagwa told farmers at a meeting in Chiredzi.
“We put the blame squarely on Finance Minister Biti of the MDC-T who does not release funds to the GMB on time,” he said.
But Biti dismissed the criticism claiming more than US$2 billion dollars has been put into agriculture since the formation of the coalition government in 2009.
“The people who criticise our work at the ministry, especially what we have done for the agricultural sector, do so from the viewpoint of malice and total ignorance,” Biti said in an interview with The Herald.
“This is so particularly with failed farmers, some of whom masquerade as Cabinet ministers who continue to be called new farmers even after 11 years of the land reform programme.”
He said agriculture accounted for up to 40 percent of total government expenditure since 2009 adding the sector had only started recovering after the formation of the coalition government.
“In 2008, we could not find a bag of maize meal … wheat production was zero and coffee and tea plantations had become sites of tourism. But in a very short period, agricultural output has massively grown because of the interventions of the inclusive Government,” he said.
Biti claimed some of his critics were actually responsible for the collapse of agriculture in the last decade adding they were further holding back recovery of the sector by blocking a much-needed land audit.
“Unfortunately, the non-genuine farmer in powerful political positions is afraid of the (land) audit, which will expose that they are multiple farm owners.
“It will further expose the vicious malpractices taking place on the land. There is land that is not being productively used and that is what the audit will expose.”
Biti said the government did not have the resources to fully fund agriculture and warned that a full turn-around in the sector would not be achieved unless farmers were given “securitised long land leases”.
“There is no Government in the world that can ever finance agriculture in full. To expect the Government of the day, particularly the present GNU, to be able to finance agriculture is fiction,” he said.
“We can talk about financing agriculture until the cows come home but as long as the farmers do not have securitised long land leases, then let us forget about agriculture beyond subsistence farming.
“As long as the land does not have title, it is dead capital, it has no useful and exchange value. More importantly, without security of tenure, farmers cannot borrow money from the banks to finance their operations.”
COMMENTS
Mafira_Kureva Moderator 14 minutes ago
This is what happens when people don't report properly. This report has failed to properly articulate the purpose of the GMB and because of that Biti sounds clever. The issue with the GMB is that it is supposed to support the farming of our staple food stuffs rain or shine. It is not the purpose of the GMB to make a profit only... but for the maize farmers to have a ready market regardless of the demand for maize in that year. This helps with food security otherwise all farmers will rationally produce tobacco or cotton because they fetch more on the market than maize. Besides it is the law of the land that all maize crops should be sold directly to the GMB for the purpose of food security.
Now this minister is chasing his own party's agenda of squeezing maize producers and making the land reform look stupid so that ZANU PF can no longer use it to get votes. Now Biti claims that he has supported the land reform better than Gono and company which cannot be true by all means and then goes on to say that the land reform started doing better only after the GNU ...pppuuleeeeaaasse... Biti is a lawyer and therefore should be listened to with caution, all lawyers want to do is win the arguement regardless of the fact that they may lose the cause in the process. It is for good cause that the GMB should continue to be funded and the fact that employees of this company are corrupt has never been government policy and therefore should be addressed through the proper channels where evidence exists and not for the minister to withold funding to a strategic institution.. unless if my earlier assertion runs true that the misinister is puting party strategy of making Zimbabweans suffer first... but what do I know...
Labels: AGRICULTURE, GRAIN MARKETING BOARD ZIMBABWE, MDC, NEOCOLONIALISM, SABOTAGE, TENDAI BITI
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Farmers ditch maize for tobacco
27/10/2011 00:00:00
by IRIN
SMALE-SCALE farmers are favouring tobacco over maize because they are paid immediately on delivery, while the Grain Marketing Board (GMB) often takes months to pay for the staple, say some small-scale farmers.
The country has suffered consistent bouts of food insecurity since 2000 after the government implemented its fast track land reform which saw thousands of white farmers displaced, often violently, to make way for landless black Zimbabweans.
Tobacco production - a major foreign currency earner - plummeted from 237 million kg in 2000 to 49 million kilograms in 2008.
Production has since recovered and the Zimbabwe Tobacco Association (ZTA) said 132 million kg was auctioned in 2011.
The profile of tobacco farmers has changed in the last decade. Prior to 2000, 1,500 of the then about 4,500 commercial farmers produced 97 percent of the tobacco delivered to sales floors, while other commercial farmers generally shunned maize production because of price controls - which remain - and opted for cash crops such as paprika, cut flowers and cotton, while growing yellow maize for stock feed.
Cereal production for food security before 2000 was largely the domain of small farmers who benefited from the sophisticated agricultural input system which supported commercial farmers and were able to easily source cheap fertiliser and seeds. The disruption of commercial farming activities also saw the collapse of the country’s agricultural industry.
ZTA's chief executive officer, Rodney Ambrose, told IRIN 67,000 tobacco growers - resettled on former white farmland - registered in 2011, of which only about 17,000 were considered large growers, including 300 white farmers still active in the sector, and that by and large the quality of tobacco delivered to the auction floors was “very good”.
Samuel Chizemo, a new tobacco farmer in Karoi about 150km north of Harare, told IRIN more farmers were opting to grow tobacco in place of maize, because of GMB delays in payment, although some was grown for personal consumption.
“Tobacco is a cash crop and unlike other crops which are delivered to the GMB we get paid cash on delivery,” he said and estimated he earned about US$8,000 from his tobacco crop this year and was paid promptly.
Some farmers, he said, were forced to sell the maize to third parties at a lower price than the controlled price of US$285 a ton, so it was the middlemen that profited from the grain, who could afford to wait for payment from the marketing board.
The USAID-funded Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) said in its September 2011 factsheet that about 1.68 million people would require emergency food assistance during the lean season, from January to April 2012. This was a 12 percent decline from the previous year for the same period.
Chizemo is one of 36 small-scale farmers working six hectare divisions of formerly white-owned farmland which was redistributed in 2001. They are all cultivating tobacco as contract farmers.
This year the average price of tobacco per kg was $2.73, slightly lower than the previous year of US$2.89.
Hard beginnings
Initially, Zimbabwe’s hyperinflationary environment - which was effectively ended through the scrapping of the local currency and its replacement in 2009 with the US dollar, Botswana pula and South African rand - financial difficulties, and the farmers’s inexperience of growing and curing tobacco hamstrung their first attempts in 2003.
“Besides us not having the know-how, it is a very expensive crop to grow,” Chizemo said.
Irrigation systems were also removed by the evicted farmer, which limited the area under cultivation, as the new farmers had to carry drums of water from a nearby river to ensure the crops did not wither in the early stages.
The refusal of banks to grant loans to the new farmers because of concerns over the security of land ownership saw the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB) petition President Robert Mugabe’s ZANU-PF government in 2004 to permit tobacco companies to offer farmers contracts whereby the necessary inputs, such as fertilizer and chemicals, were provided ahead of the planting season.
Under the contract agreement the farmers must sell to an agreed auctioneer until they have paid the loan for the inputs and are then free to sell the surplus to whoever they choose.
New farmers were also offered advice, assisted in the paying of wage bills and in some cases supplied with food. However, it was the scrapping of the local currency, which saw tobacco's renaissance.
“Tobacco growing is making a big difference to our lives,” Thomas Gwata, 28, from the Nyazura area east of Harare, who started tobacco farming in 2006 on a formerly white-owned farm that was subdivided among 65 small farmers, who made thousands of dollars from this year’s crop.
The farmers also lack access to a curing facility.
“The farmer who took over the farm infrastructure does not allow us to use the [curing] barn as he says it’s on his land,” he told IRIN.
“He is a cellphone farmer”, a term describing new farmers who received land, but are employed elsewhere and conduct their farming activities by calling their workers on cellphones.
Gwata and his fellow small-scale farmers built their own curing barn, but it was not as efficient as the barn constructed by the former white farmer.
Tree-felling
Without a coal supplier the tobacco farmers have resorted to tree-felling to get fuel for tobacco curing. “This is causing serious deforestation but we really do not have a choice,” he said.
“We have the land but we are not benefiting enough; agriculture is the driver of our economy so government should seriously look into putting money into the sector,” said Gwata. That may not happen any time soon though as the government remains cash-strapped.
TIMB chief executive officer Andrew Matibiri said the new farmers had also yet to come to grips with the tobacco industry systems, including notification of how much of the product they intended to grow.
“Some farmers are not aware of this and just bring their crop to the already overcrowded three auction floors in Harare which were designed for 4,000 growers,” he said.
However, Matibiri said the sector was being rejuvenated.
“Besides earning the country much needed foreign currency, tobacco is now benefiting thousands of families rather than the small minority who grew it before.”
He forecast that tobacco production could grow to 350 million kg annually in three to four years - provided there was adequate financial support - thanks to demand from the European Union and China, which each purchase about 40 percent of the country's tobacco crop.
Labels: ANDREW MATIBIRI, GRAIN MARKETING BOARD ZIMBABWE, MAIZE, NEW FARMERS, TOBACCO, ZTA
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COMMENT - This is the MDC, The Regime Change Party, sabotaging Zimbabwean farmers to weaken the people and the country, so Anglo-American can take over. They shouldn't be in government, they should be in jail.
Biti slammed over failure to release funds to GMB
Thursday, 27 October 2011 00:00
Masvingo Bureau
Defence Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa has
castigated his Finance counterpart Minister Tendai Biti for failing to release adequate funds to the Grain Marketing Board to enable it to pay farmers well ahead of the agricultural season.
Addressing farmers at the Zinwa Main Camp in Chiredzi North over the weekend, Minister Mnangagwa said the delays had affected farmers who wanted to buy inputs.
"We are worried that farmers struggle to get agricultural inputs due to lack of funds when they are owed huge sums of money by the GMB.
"We put the blame squarely on Finance Minister Biti of the MDC-T who does not release funds to the GMB on time," he said.
Minister Mnangagwa said President Mugabe was ready to assist farmers get the inputs under the Presidential Input Support Scheme.
"There is concern over lack of adequate support to our farmers from the Finance Ministry, that is why President Mugabe had to intervene personally with the Presidential Input Support Scheme that has seen most rural farmers getting agricultural inputs for free,'' he said.
Minister Mnangagwa, however, appealed to Zinwa not to cut off water supplies to villagers in Chiredzi for failing to pay their bills.
Addressing villagers at Sasekani Chilonga High School in Chiredzi South, Minister Mnangagwa urged Zimbabweans to jealously guard their hard won independence using the ballot box to protect the country from neo-colonial aggression.
The Zanu-PF national secretary for legal affairs said Zimbabweans should defend the country's sovereignty by voting for a party with a history of spearheading the aspirations of the majority.
"Voting is not a painstaking exercise at all, there is no sweat that comes out by going to vote once or twice after every five years just to defend Zimbabwe's sovereignty,'' he said.
Labels: GRAIN MARKETING BOARD ZIMBABWE, SABOTAGE, TENDAI BITI
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A2 farmers struggle to finance operations
Monday, 24 October 2011 00:00
Obert Chifamba Agriculture Reporter
MOST model A2 farmers are struggling to finance their preparations for the 2011/12 farming season amid reports that banks are reluctant to extend loans to them as some are yet to re-pay the loans from last season.
In an interview yesterday, Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers Union president Mr Donald Khumalo said the majority of A2 farmers were failing to buy inputs, repair implements or even replace the obsolete equipment due to lack of funding.
"It is disappointing to note that most of these farmers have delivered grain to the Grain Marketing Board and have not yet received their payments up to this day.
"This development has seen most of the farmers failing to settle debts they incurred last season and banks can not extend more funds to them now because they have outstanding re-payments," said Mr Khumalo.
Most of the farmers were now failing to pay back what they owed due to accrual of interest rates, the ZCFU boss said.
He said his union was concerned about the development, which he described as a huge setback to the agricultural sector.
"Funding of agriculture is very critical. We cannot talk of anything to do with the economy and not mention agriculture so when farmers can not mobilise resources to buy inputs as well as mechanise their operations, it becomes a matter for concern," he added.
Mr Khumalo said the situation on the mechanisation side of agriculture was critical as most of the implements and machinery had aged and therefore no longer very reliable.
The dire situation, said Mr Khumalo, made it imperative for farmers to buy new implements or repair the ageing ones where financial resources were limited.
The GMB recently conceded that it still owed farmers US$40 million for maize delivered to its depots in the 2010/11 marketing season.
GMB general manager Mr Albert Mandizha said despite the parastatal having paid US$27,4 million to farmers so far, there was need for Treasury to urgently mobilise more funding to pay farmers for grain that was delivered after July.
"The rain season is upon us and farmers badly need that money to do their preparations, which they should have completed by now if we had paid them in time.
"The Finance Ministry recently released US$10 million, which we immediately sent to all our depots for the payment of grain that was delivered from the start of the marketing season to July 15 this year," he said.
The funding that was dispatched to the parastatal's depots was for paying farmers who delivered five tonnes and below for the period between April and July.
Most A2 farmers unfortunately have delivered bigger tonnages than this and therefore were not covered as they would be paid through banks.
Labels: A2 FARMERS, GRAIN MARKETING BOARD ZIMBABWE, ZCFU
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GMB still owes farmers US$40 million
Friday, 14 October 2011 00:00
Obert Chifamba
THE Grain Marketing Board still owes farmers US$40 million for maize delivered to its depots in the 2010/11 marketing season. In an interview yesterday, GMB general manager Mr Albert Mandizha said despite the parastatal having paid US$27,4 million to farmers so far, there was need for treasury to urgently mobilise more funding to pay farmers for grain that was delivered after July to now.
"The rain season is upon us and farmers badly need that money to do their preparations, which they should have completed by now if we had paid them in time.
"Last week the Finance Ministry released US$10 million, which we immediately sent to all our depots for the payment of grain that was delivered from the start of the marketing season to July 15 this year," he said.
When The Herald visited Banket GMB depot yesterday, scores of farmers were waiting for their payments, which they said had been overly delayed.
A farmer from Hunyani Farm, Tapiwa Bemba, said he had delivered his maize in July but had not received his payment.
"Their service here is very slow.
"We have been here since morning and they have put us into groups of 20 but only seven people have been served from the first batch of 20 since morning," he complained.
A GMB employee at the depot who requested not to be named said under the latest funding, they had received money enough to pay only 285 farmers and were only paying those that delivered grain between the start of the marketing season and July 15.
"We are only paying those farmers who delivered five tons and below. Those who delivered anything above five tons are getting their payments from their provincial depots.
"They were asked to submit their banking details so that they would receive their payments through their banks," he said.
The depot general manager was reported to be away attending a meeting in Chinhoyi.
Recently, Cabinet ordered Treasury to immediately release US$40 million to buy inputs and recapitalise the Grain Marketing Board to pay farmers for grain delivered.
Labels: AGRICULTURE, GRAIN MARKETING BOARD ZIMBABWE
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We are against pseudo NGOs—VP Mujuru
Saturday, 08 October 2011 22:44
By Lincoln Towindo
VICE-PRESIDENT Mujuru has urged non-governmental organisations operating in rural communities to
complement Government development programmes and desist from dabbling in politics.Speaking at the launch of a multimillion-dollar community building project in Rushinga yesterday, she said Government would work closely with NGOs without hidden agendas.
“The types of NGOs that we want to work with are those that complement development efforts being made by Government and not the ones seeking to foment divisions within our communities,” she said.
“We have a history of working closely with NGOs since the days of the liberation struggle. NGOs did not start today; they supported us during the struggle by providing us with clothing and, in some instances, arming us.
“However, we are against pseudo NGOs which come into our communities with hidden agendas, those that do not respect our norms and values, the ones that do not wish to see us become self-sufficient.
“We would rather you teach us how to fish rather than giving us fish to eat.”
Cde Mujuru castigated the Grain Marketing Board (GMB) and seed companies in Mashonaland Central for supplying farmers with seed unsuitable for the climatic conditions in the province.
She also castigated the GMB for overpricing maize, thereby condemning the villagers who were victims of poor harvests to hunger.
“Last season, the GMB and seed companies supplied this province with the wrong variety of seeds, leading to very poor harvests and suffering of our people.
“Today, the local GMB has over 825 tonnes of maize within its silos but this has not helped alleviate the problem of hunger since it is priced beyond the reach of many.
“Because of the steep prices, we have maize that has been in the silos for periods ranging between two to three years and this is not acceptable.”
The event was held to officially launch self-sustenance projects worth US$2 million that are being administered by local NGO, Community Technology Development Trust (CTDT).
Among the projects are livestock market pens, dam rehabilitation and market gardening.
Speaking at the same event, Rushinga Member of the House of Assembly Cde Lazarus Dokora urged the community to work towards developing the constituency.
- The Sunday Mail
Labels: GRAIN MARKETING BOARD ZIMBABWE, JOICE MUJURU, NEOCOLONIALISM, NGOs
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Biti clashes with GMB management
Saturday, 08 October 2011 22:36 Agriculture
By Tafadzwa Chiremba
FINANCE Minister Mr Tendai Biti has clashed with Grain Marketing Board management after he alleged that huge stocks of maize were piling up at the parastatal’s depots because millers were shunning its highly priced grain in favour of imports.
Last week, Mr Biti told the House of Assembly that the GMB grain selling price of US$325 per tonne was comparatively higher than the US$190 that other regional countries were charging. He alleged some businesspeople were also selling imported maize to the grain procurer. However, GMB general manager Mr Albert Mandizha dismissed the minister’s assertions.
He said mechanisms were in place to ensure imported grain is not sold to his institution.
Mr Biti said: “The region has got surplus. What is happening is that one can buy maize from Malawi or anywhere (else) for between US$175 and US$190.
“So, now unscrupulous businesspeople are importing maize from neighbouring countries such that, as I speak today, Malawi and Zambia have supplied in this country 144 000 metric tonnes of maize.
“Realising the problem, we do not have a mechanism of preventing cheap imported maize going to GMB.
“As Government, we need to revisit our systems. The second problem is that when our millers go to the GMB to buy maize, GMB is selling maize at US$325 per tonne.
“So, you will be made to buy maize at US$325 per tonne when you can import it at US$190.
“GMB is now sitting on huge maize stocks which it cannot sell to anyone, yet the Government is just buying and buying.”
Mr Mandizha hit back yesterday saying the allegations should have supporting evidence.
He said the GMB was working to maintain national strategic grain reserves at an optimum level.
“First, we need to understand that the country keeps a strategic reserve of about 500 000 metric tonnes,” he said.
“We are still to reach that target since we are around 400 000 metric tonnes. How then can we push maize out to millers when we have not yet reached the target?”
Mr Mandizha said his institution was still purchasing maize, adding that millers were free to import.
“It is very easy for someone to say things, but what is more important is to tell us which depot is buying imported maize.
“We have mechanisms in place to ensure only locally-produced maize finds its way to the GMB.
“Our production managers at various depots have a database of maize produced in areas within their jurisdiction.
“We need information that holds water. We are willing to investigate if information is availed.”
- The Sunday Mail
Labels: GRAIN MARKETING BOARD ZIMBABWE, TENDAI BITI
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