Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
to the GMB. Private buyers and millers immediately caught on to this fact and saw it as
an opportunity to edge off the Government's procurement agent (GMB) (Figure 11.1). A
situation had arisen where farmers who had been encouraged by the price floor to produce
could not find a buy since the government had no cash to pay. Private buyers took advantage
of this and underpriced the maize to as low as R20-R30/20 kg bucket which worked out to
US$125-US$188/ton, allowing them to realize margins as large as US$100/ton in some
instances. Of course, this became a disincentive to producers and further exacerbated
the supply bottlenecks. As the government of Zimbabwe continues to be cash-strapped
and hence unable to buy maize from domestic producers, uncertainties among farmers
about delayed payments for their maize deliveries to the Grain Marketing Board remain a
deterrent to channelling maize to the institution. The few who deliver maize to GMB are
owed for protracted periods.
The marketing problems of maize farmers are complicated by two other fallouts of the
FTLRP. One is the weakened role of the Zimbabwe Farmers Union (ZFU) and the other is
the capacity constraints that have made the extension service ineffectual. Prior to 2000, the
ZFU was active in price setting debates. However, as the economy crashed between 2000
and 2008, its involvement dwindled due to its shrinking revenue base, which was mainly
through deduction of 1% levy from farmers' sales, annual subscriptions and card selling to
new farmers. Where farmers were hardly selling anything, their subscriptions fell off and
representation became almost non-existent. Farmers' representation is an integral part in
product marketing in developing countries where the majority of the smallholder farmers
are either illiterate or semi-illiterate.
The other source of price/marketing information is the agricultural extension service.
But due to lack of resources, their mobility has become highly restricted, with the result
that farmers have been deprived of vital marketing information. More so, where such
information could be easily accessible, extension personnel especially in drought prone
regions indicated their deliberate omission in educating farmers about maize marketing.
Somehow, the extension service has written of the smallholder farming in the face of
dwindling productivity and production. An interview with an extension officer on their
role in advising farmers on how to market their produce revealed that they deliberately omit
marketing information in their messages to smallholder farmers. One extension agent in
the Mwenezi District had this to say:
'We rarely talk about maize marketing with farmers, except those who do market gardening.
How can you tell someone who is always begging how to market his insufficient food? We
always advise them to keep their food and not to market' (Interview, Agritex Extension
Worker, Mwenezi District, 22 July 2009).
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