Recent changes in markets and market relationships and lessons for the design of effective support programmes - Institutional Constraints to Small Farmer Development in Southern Africa - page 260

Marketing Board (GMB) following the fast track land reform was at stake given the hyper
inflationary environment under which the parastatal was operating. From 2000 to 2008,
Zimbabwe experienced grain shortages and importation of maize through the GMB was
one of the strategies adopted by the Zimbabwean government to cope with the ever souring
shortages. Commercial imports were augmented by food handouts from donor agencies.
However, Zimbabwe remained constrained with foreign currency shortages as a result of
reduced exports by Zimbabwean producers, and an ever increasing need for imports in both
agricultural and manufacturing sectors. Table 11.1 gives an insight into how Zimbabwe
managed its food sector by highlighting domestic maize procurement and importation by
the Grain Marketing Board of Zimbabwe.

Though Table 11.1, represents a trend where maize imports were greater than locally procured
maize nationally, except for the 2004/05 and 2006/07 seasons. The role of informal market
in augmenting government procurement efforts is evident from Table 11.1. However, the
question of how much grain the informal sector imported into the country during this
shortage periods is not obvious. Some informally imported maize ended up on the formal
markets like retail shops and supermarkets at exorbitant prices, while some continued to
be channelled to final consumers through backyard trading and road side marketing. The
failure by the Zimbabwean government to suppress the mushrooming of informal markets
in the post Fast Track Land Reform Programme period can partly be blamed for the low
levels of maize supplies to the Grain Marketing Board (GMB) from local producers. This
was strongly influenced by the scandalous inflationary levels and high volatility of the
Zimbabwean dollar, which crippled the capacity of state procurement agencies in favour
of profiteering informal traders who had a lot cash to throw around. Though Zimbabwe's

Table 11.1. National maize procurement statistics for Grain Marketing Board (GMB, Zimbabwe).

Marketing year Local intake/procurement (tonnes) Imports (tonnes)

2001/02 154,847 88,656

2002/03 49,418 763,594

2003/04 244,187 375,198

2004/05 186,661 75,609

2005/06 181,219 685,983

2006/07 543,725 161,235

2007/08 194,331 401,285

2008/09 35,593 417,825

2009/10 1

6,062 3,580

1 Figures for the 2009/10 marketing year are as at week ending Friday July 10, 2009