By Correspendent.
MUTARE, Zimbabwe. (News of The South) – Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) Governor has heaped blame on the Ministry of Agriculture for fuelling corruption in the country through the issuance of import licence,News of The South can reveal.
Speaking at the three day Zimbabwe Farmers Union 75th annual congress that was held at Marymount Teachers College, on Thursday, Mangudya said the issuance of import permit of cheap farming produce was destroying farming in Zimbabwe as well as breeding widespread corruption in the country.
He said the RBZ had so far discovered that there is too much double dipping among farmers, as some unscrupulous elements were abusing the facility to import grain for resale to the Grain Marketing Board at a profit.
“We have discovered that it is the Ministry of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development that is issuing these import permits. After getting the permits some businesspeople import grain at US$260 and then sell it to GMB for US$390 per tonne. It is cheaper to import and sell to GMB than to produce and what this means is that these businesspeople will never till their land,” said Dr. Mangudya.
He went on to highlight that the RBZ’s mandate was to ensure that the agricultural action which was unveiled during the 10point action plan by the President of Zimbabwe Robert Mugabe should bear fruition. Currently agriculture is contributing 12,7percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), contributing 23 percent and 33 percent of the country’s employment and exports respectively.
Dr. Mangudya reiterated that the country was flooded with low-cost imported food products that are elbowing the local farm products, produced at a relative high cost, out of the market, consequently rescinding the local agricultural sector.
“We do not want these permits to continue being issued out .You are destroying the farmer and surprisingly these things are happening under the nose of your unions and you, as farmers being destroyed while you are quiet. Why are we issuing licences for the importation of cheap food products like beef, poultry, fruits and dairy, queried Dr. Mangudya.
The RBZ chief said the honeymoon for farmers in receiving freebies from government was over, as government would this year support 2 000 serious farmers to grow at least 1,2 million metric tonnes of maize on commercial scale.
“We cannot continue having farmers getting inputs for free in this day and age, yet they supply meagre grains to the country’s food storage reservoir. We are moving towards a motion this year where we are targeting just 2 000 farmers through your leadership at ZFU. These farmers will be funded $80 000 each to grow 100ha of maize at a cost of $800 per hectare of maize.
“Our target is to achieve six tonnes per hectare so that we can produce at least 1,2 million metric tonnes. It is high we use the ‘use or lose principle’ because most farmers are not doing justice to the nation,” he added.
Dr. Mangudya noted that so far $500 million had been injected into farming since 2009, adding that to date $90m had been paid for the 2014/15 grain deliveries, leaving a balance of at least $12 million that would be cleared next week.
The congress was held under the theme “Value Addition; Foundation for Wealth Creation and was attended by farmers from across the country as well as seed companies and fertilisers’ companies.
Comments
About Author
