GMB gets $4bn for grain deliveries

THE Grain Marketing Board (GMB) says it has received $4 billion from the Treasury to facilitate smooth and speedy payment of farmers for grain deliveries.

Zimbabwe expects to record a bumper harvest on account of improved Government and private sector support plus good rains that were received across the country this farming season.

With adequate financing from Government, GMB has assured farmers of improved payment and encouraged all farmers to sell their grain through formal channels.

In a recent joint statement, Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development Minister, Dr Anxious Masuka and his Finance and Economic Development counterpart, Professor Mthuli Ncube announced this year’s producer prices for different grains.

Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development Minister, Dr Anxious Masuka

This time around farmers will be paid in both United States dollars and in local currency converted at the interbank rate, said the ministers.

According to the notice, farmers will be paid US$335 per metric tonne for traditional grains of which US$200 will be paid in forex with the remainder US$135 payable in Zimbabwe dollars at the prevailing weekly interbank rate.

The GMB maize and traditional grains price to millers will be US$368 per metric tonne paid as US$200 in foreign currency plus US$168 in Zimbabwe dollars at the interbank rate.

In a recent interview in Bulawayo, GMB acting chief executive officer, Mr Clemence Guta, said this year farmers would get paid instantly at the collection point unlike the old system where farmers were paid when their grain reached the depot, which took about two weeks.

“We have done everything in terms of preparedness, that is silo overhauls, procurement of resources like bags and the Treasury has been supportive and I am happy to announce that this week (last week) we have received $4 billion,” said Mr Guta.

According to official data, the estimated maize production this year is 2 298 281 tonnes, a 58 percent increase from the 2021/2022 season.

Traditional grains production is estimated at 280 966 tonnes, a 45 percent increase on the 2021/2022 figure. Sorghum production is expected to be 191 125 tonnes, which is 32 percent more than production in the 2021/2022 season while pearl millet production is expected to be 171 221 tonnes, 61 percent above what was produced in 2021/2022 season.

Finger millet production is expected to be 18 610 tonnes, which is 250 percent more than what was produced in the 2021/2022 season.

The total cereal production is set to clock 2 579 247 tonnes against a national cereal requirement of 1 837 742 tonnes for human consumption and 450 000 tonnes for livestock, leaving a surplus.

Meanwhile, GMB has said it is working on innovative ways of receiving and distributing grains where Mr Guta said they have plans to invest in automated silos.

“Smart silos have an automated system in handling grain, which is different from the silos we have that are manual.

“Now we are looking at a silo where everything is automated in terms of receiving and distributing the grain even in terms of checking the quality of the grain,” he said.

Small grain crops such as finger millet, sorghum, rapoko, cowpeas and a whole range of indigenous legumes

“The beauty about the smart silos is that they only need one person in the control room and everything will be running, and you can be dispatching at the same time loading at the silo.”

GMB came first in the ‘best Zimbabwe food exhibit’ of the food group at the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF) in Bulawayo last week. — chronicle