Source: GMB pays wheat farmers US$4m to clear 2025 debt – herald
Edgar Vhera
Specialist Writer – Agribusiness
The Grain Marketing Board has paid farmers more than US$4 million towards clearing US dollar debts for the 2025 wheat deliveries and pledged to make prompt payments going forward.
This comes as winter wheat planting has intensified.
GMB chief executive, Dr Edson Badarai, said the board had settled all its outstanding foreign currency debts to farmers for last year’s wheat intake while giving an update on other grain payments.
“The GMB is delighted to announce that it has received US$4,31 million to clear United States dollar obligations for wheat deliveries, and US$0,944 million for current deliveries of summer cereals delivered from this April 2026; totalling US$5,254 million.
“This vital funding by the Treasury brings much-needed relief to farmers. The support underscores the Government’s steadfast commitment to agriculture,” he said.
Dr Badarai encouraged farmers who received inputs under the Presidential Input Programme (PIP) and those contracted by the Agricultural and Rural Development Authority (ARDA) or under ARDA-managed irrigation schemes to deliver grain to GMB’s depot network and ward-based buying points, to ensure national grain self-sufficiency.
“Going forward, GMB anticipates paying farmers within 30 days of delivery,” he said.
Zimbabwe National Farmers Union (ZNFU) president, Mrs Monica Chinamasa, said the payments to farmers had been long overdue, considering that some farmers had borrowed from financiers to grow the crop at an interest rate of between 16 and 30 percent.
“Farming is a business and off-takers, especially GMB, should take it as such. The Treasury should appreciate the plight of farmers and pay on time,” she said.
Mrs Chinamasa said uncertain markets, expensive inputs, delayed payments and high interest rates were negatively affecting farmers.
Zimbabwe Farmers Union secretary general, Mr Paul Zakariya, said while ZFU appreciated that GMB had cleared all United States dollar wheat obligations, it should be noted that farming was a business and on-farm cash flows mattered.
“Delays in paying farmers affect business operations, bank loans must be settled in time and workers must be paid weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly and equipment must be serviced, among other running costs.
“What gives confidence to wheat farmers is timely payments and it is our sincere hope that off-takers are adequately prepared for this current marketing season,” he said.
Food Crop Contractors Association (FCCA) chairperson, Mr Graeme Murdoch, said although it was good news to hear that all outstanding wheat payments had now been made, unfortunately, farmers could not confidently plant wheat if they had to wait eight months to get paid.
For the 2026 season, Mr Murdoch said FCCA members planned to plant about 20 000 hectares of wheat as farmers were concerned about viability and water availability going into what is predicted to be an El Niño season.
“Plantings to date have been a little slow because the maize crop is still being harvested, but should accelerate over the next three weeks,” he said.
The Zimbabwe National Water Authority (ZINWA) has since assured all irrigators that there is sufficient water in most dams to cover their requirements and farmers should secure water abstraction agreements with them for proper water allocation.
The national dam levels update as of May 8 shows that the country’s major dams remain strong, with the average at 93,2 percent.
The Government has since set an incentive for pre-planting 2026 winter wheat producers of US$524.56 per tonne on 125 000 hectares and projected output of 662 500 tonnes.
This season, wheat production will be financed under the climate-proofed Presidential Inputs Scheme (Pfumvudza/Intwasa), self-financed farmers, National Enhanced Agricultural Productivity Scheme (NEAPS) financed by AFC and CBZ, Agriculture and Rural Development Authority (ARDA) and private contractors.
Wheat production rose by some 540 percent from 100 044 tonnes in 2019 to 640 195 last year.
The country requires 360 000 tonnes of wheat per annum and has been self-sufficient from local production since 2022, when 375 000 tonnes were harvested.
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