GMAZ grain imports are part of their contract – President Mnangagwa
• Clarifies rules governing sales for privately grown grains
Staff Writer
The grain being imported by the Grain Millers Association of Zimbabwe (GMAZ) is part of their obligation born out of the organisation`s failure to sufficiently support local agriculture production to meet 40 percent of its needs.
GMAZ is an apex body representing grain millers in Zimbabwe and one of its agreements with Government is that a percentage of their grain has to be grown locally.
President Mnangagwa in his weekly column in The Sunday Mail wrote that the country is food secure, and anxieties around the aspect are not merited, as they are simply a product of miscommunication by GMAZ.
“Poorly contextualised announcement by the Grain Millers Association of Zimbabwe, GMAZ, has not assuaged these anxieties. GMAZ announced that it intends to import some 400 000 tonnes to meet its own grain shortfall.
That was misconstrued to mean Government is importing grain to meet a national deficit,” said President Mnangagwa.
President Mnangagwa explained circumstances around the GMAZ agreement.
“…it is Government policy that grain users in the private sector, grouped as GMAZ, should meet 40 percent of their grain needs.
The policy is meant to nudge them towards playing their part in supporting local farmers through contract growing. These farmers, after all, are prime producers of the raw materials which drive their milling business.
GMAZ must thus play a part through such backward linkages.
Where such arrangements fall short of 40 percent of their grain requirements, GMAZ is expected to meet the shortfall through purchases or imports paid from own funds,” said President Mnangagwa.
The policy is meant to ensure that millers share the burden of funding grain production in Zimbabwe and does not mean that there is a grain shortage in Zimbabwe.
It is meant to protect grains produced through Government funding.
President Mnangagwa also took time to fully explain what had been misconstrued as Government seeking to force self-sponsoring farmers to sell maize to the Grain Marketing Board.
“With regards to measures we have announced in respect of grain movements in the country this marketing season, the goal is to ensure all farmers contracted by Government through selected banks to produce grains do deliver their harvests to our Grain Marketing Board, GMB, which is the sole agency for collecting all grain funded by Government under that contract scheme.
Inputs supplied to farmers under this scheme are guaranteed by Government. That means any defaults by contracted farmers make Government liable as the sole guarantor. In reality, this means the taxpayer ends up assuming an undeserved debt burden. This must be avoided,” said President Mnangagwa.
He said the move was meant to minimise possibility of default by farmers funded by Government, as significant quantities of grain were finding their way to buyers through side marketing.
“The other trick is stocking up harvests on the farm until the end of marketing season, to then dispose stocks through side marketing after the marketing season.
All these tricks are fraudulent, and expectedly invite the harsh hand of the law. Worse, they spoil things for genuine farmers who abide by terms of their contracts. For Government, the unhappy result is high default rate, often amidst a glut in grain supply to GMB. This means the burden shifts to the taxpayer,” President Mnangagwa said.
President Mnangagwa said self-sponsored farmers can sell their grain to buyers of their choice and are not confined to GMB, provided they seek authority.
The only condition is that they do not sell their grain outside Zimbabwe.
“I am aware that farmers who self-sponsor feel hard done by because of these restrictive marketing measures we have adopted, which are designed to curtail and stop side marketing.
Yet Government has provided a way out for such self-sponsored farmers. Farmers falling outside Government-guaranteed producer contracts can retain or freely market their grain to markets of their choice by getting exemption permits from GMB. Such permits clear them to move grain as they see fit, but within the country,” said President Mnangagwa.
President Mnangagwa said Zimbabwe is food secure, and there is no need to panic.
“Zimbabwe requires 2,2 million tonnes of grain yearly to meet her needs. Our food security strategy also requires that we maintain stocks of about 500 000 tonnes as our Strategic Grain Reserves.
This means we are comfortable with yearly grain stock levels of 2,7 million tonnes. All the investments we are doing in the food sector are aimed at meeting that goal,” President Mnangagwa said.
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