Government owes over US$300 million to suppliers of its agriculture programmes, causing delays in the rollout of inputs ahead of a critical farming season, Parliament has heard.
Agriculture Secretary Obert Jiri told a Parliamentary committee Monday that programmes such as Pfumvudza, meant to support resilience for help low-income families, were facing delays on input supply because of government’s debts to fertiliser and seed companies, as well as transporters. Less than half of the required fertiliser has been sent out to farmers.
“The main challenge is financing. Our contractors, such as Valley Seeds, FSG, ZFC, Windmill and Quton, are owed in excess of US$300 million for the 2020-2021 season, 2021-2022 season, 2022-2023 season, and to date. If we don’t pay, they can’t move the inputs,” said Jiri.
Government needs to contract truckers to deliver the inputs to farmers before the rain season begins, as distribution becomes harder when it rains. However, government also owes transporters.
“We are moving with what we are able to do, outside the resource requirement, particularly paying the suppliers and transporters,” Jiri told the MPs. “The transporters are also owed for aid distribution.”
According to government’s last crop assessment report, over 447,415 hectares of maize was planted under Pfumvudza last season, 81% more than the previous year. Government says the climate-proof scheme gives supports yields when rainfall is low.
Government is targeting a large wheat haul this year, but slow harvesting in key wheat growing areas has left wheat vulnerable to rain. This may affect yields, Jiri says.
Says Jiri: “In terms of the transition from winter season to summer, the rains are giving us a headache. We have removed 69% of the wheat, but what remains is being rained on. We are particularly worried with Mashonaland West, East and Central, which account for 80% of the country’s wheat.”
The bulk of wheat is contracted by private companies. However, a smaller portion of wheat is delivered to the GMB, which also owes farmers.
“So far we have harvested 408,000 metric tonnes of wheat, and 56,000MT are already with GMB. And you know what that means when farmers deliver to GMB – they are already owed over US$30 million,” Jiri said.
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