Source: Farmers applaud Govt for grain debt payments – herald
Edgar Vhera
Specialist Writer – Agribusiness
Farmers have expressed their gratitude after the Treasury released US$5 million and ZiG60 million (US$2 378 817) to the Grain Marketing Board over the past fortnight to clear outstanding debts.
The farmers, however, appealed to the authority to prioritise timely payments or factor in interest charges for delayed settlements, ensuring the sustainability of their farming operations.
Delayed payments have slashed into farmers’ profits, hampering agricultural production. Some farmers said they were struggling to service their loans from financial institutions due to the delays in payments.
GMB confirmed receiving money from the Treasury on the board’s X post on Wednesday.
“GMB is delighted to announce receipt of ZiG60 million and US$5 million from the Treasury, representing consecutive disbursements over the past two weeks, for timely payments to farmers. This brings total cumulative payments for wheat deliveries to ZiG50 million and US$30 million,” said GMB.
GMB said the funding brought the much-needed relief to farmers.
“The support underscores the Government’s steadfast commitment to agriculture, a key sector driving Zimbabwe’s economy. GMB remains dedicated to partnering with farmers to achieve national grain self-sufficiency,” said the parastatal.
Zimbabwe Farmers union (ZFU) secretary general, Mr Paul Zakariya, said this will definitely boost farmers’ cash flows, especially now when costs are piling up ahead of the upcoming marketing season.
“We call on all off-takers for the coming season to pay farmers upon delivery of produce,” he said.
Zimbabwe National Farmers union (ZNFU) president Mrs Monica Chinamasa said delayed payments were killing the farming business, making it tough for farmers to keep their operations viable.
“We are taking farming as a business. It is unfortunate that payments, which should have been done in October/November last year for grain deliveries, are only being paid now,” she said.
Mrs Chinamasa urged the Treasury to ensure grain delivered to GMB was paid on time as farmers were being charged interest from banks due to late loan repayment.
An agriculture expert, Dr Reneth Mano, concurred that the Treasury has been habitually defaulting on farmer payments for GMB purchases of grain for the Strategic Grain Reserve (SGR).
“The prolonged delays in farmer payment have unfortunately damaged GMB’s once stellar reputation among farmers as the most trusted and most reliable buyer of grains and oilseeds in Zimbabwe.
“GMB board has to do a better job protecting the parastatal from further reputational damage of its brand name in the 2026/27 season,” he said.
Dr Mano believes one of the long-overdue policy guidelines from the GMB board was a clear instruction to GMB management to secure the funding from the Treasury and confirm a deposit into the company’s trading account before taking on board frontline liabilities of purchasing grain from farmers for the SGR.
“Such a policy guideline would ensure that GMB is actually able to guarantee farmer payment within 14 days for all deliveries of maize or wheat, pearl or finger millet and sorghum into the GMB depots for SGR.
“The second recommendation is for the GMB board to consider enforcing a prompt payment protocol in which farmers would be automatically credited with monthly interest for any outstanding payments for grain deliveries not settled within 30 days,” he added.
Dr Mano said the interest charges would be added to the bill for the Treasury.
“This is one policy measure which would make all farmers very happy that the Government is actually recognising the time value of money lost by farmers when the Treasury deliberately defaults on farmer payment.
“By paying interest on outstanding balances, the Treasury would be financially motivated to ensure that farmers are always promptly paid on time or else the bill to the Treasury just gets bigger every month with compounded interest charges,” he remarked.
According to the Ministry of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion, the Government’s role through GMB in the agriculture markets remains limited to the purchase and management of SGR and providing storage facilities for Zimbabwe Mercantile Exchange (ZMX).
The post Farmers applaud Govt for grain debt payments appeared first on Zimbabwe Situation.