MDC-T: Statement on the new regulations controlling the marketing of grain in Zim

On Friday the 15th August 2014, the Ministry of Agriculture through the Agricultural Marketing Authority issued regulations that seek to control the price at which traders will buy Maize and Sorghum in Zimbabwe. The price of both products was set at US$390 per tonne.

No restrictions were placed on the importation of grain based products which will continue to be freely available on local markets at market prices. In addition the new regulations override contracts between growers and end users that have already been concluded and those that cover production in 2013/14 season.

It must be noted that all regional States except Zimbabwe have significant surpluses with Zambia holding stocks in excess of two years consumption. Prices in these regional markets are well below the price established in the new regulations. Zimbabwe continues to import half its domestic needs for maize and all its needs for wheat.

So long as the Zimbabwe government continues to deny Zimbabwean farmers security of tenure acceptable as security for bank financing, and continues to undermine land prices through its arbitrary and politically motivated land invasions, farmers will be unable to finance their activities on a sustainable basis.

These problems are compounded by the continued failure of government to get to grips with the ongoing banking crisis associated with the near total absence of liquidity. These fundamental problems are compounded by the refusal of the State to allow new GMO crop varieties to be provided to Zimbabwean farmers so that they can compete with their regional counterparts.

The consequences of this ill advised action by Government are far reaching – the State does not have the money to buy the crop at these inflated prices and the private sector will not be able to do so without running the risk of buying stocks that are overpriced. This means that the maize that remains on farms will not be sold this winter compounding their difficulties in financing the next crop.

In addition, the regulations create an almost impossible situation for the country's grain traders and millers and it is likely that they will lose the market share to imports of finished products from neighboring States. For consumers, the news is equally dire, they will face higher prices and disrupted supplies for the most basic foods that they need on a daily basis.

For the past two decades Zimbabwe has been in the grip of a national crisis in its agriculture industry. These new regulations confirm that the present administration simply does not have any idea as to what to do about resolving our deep seated economic problems. Reckless measures that seek to solve the viability problems of farmers locked in a no win situation on farms they cannot operate, will simply compound our problems. Zimbabwe deserves better.