‘Payment delays fuel side-marketing of agricultural produce’

WITH recent crop marketing seasons having been riddled by challenges of side-marketing, stakeholders in the agriculture sector have challenged produce buyers to mobilise adequate funds for the purpose to ensure they pay farmers expeditiously. Zimbabwe Farmers Union Secretary General Mr Paul Zakariya revealed this recently when he highlighted on tenets that buyers/farmers must follow if farming is to be successfully treated as a business. “With the Almighty God having blessed the country with abundant rains and farmers positively responding with increased crop hectarages, buyers of produce must ensure that they have sufficient money to pay for the products. “Prompt payment will stop farmers from side-marketing, as they have other dues to settle,” said Mr Zakariya. Zimbabwe Integrated Commercial Farmers Union (ZICFU) president Mrs Mayiwepi Jiti concurred saying there was need for all buyers to swiftly pay for the products they get from farmers. “It is ideal to for all buyers to prepare early for the marketing season and avoid paying farmers late, which affects their business plans as the earnings lose value to inflation. “To avoid side marketing, the Government and private sector must ensure prompt payment of farmers. They must provide grain dryers at collection points to curtail the rejection of products due to high moisture content,” said Mrs Jiti. Many middlemen are the creation of failed marketing systems and these come to fill a void brought by lack of money to pay for products from contractors/buyers. “Middleman study the market and are at handy to buy products cheaply, as soon as they are ready for sale usually at farm gates without the farmer needing to incur additional costs of transporting produce to markets. “They however aid side-marketing and make farmers side step their loan repayment agreements with their contractors,” continued Mrs Jiti. Food Crop Contractors Association (FCCA) Chairman Mr Graeme Murdoch said Government was already working on updating the required statutory instruments to make the movement and marketing of grain more efficient. “Private sector buyers are required to arrange adequate financing to match their requirements, with payments to farmers likely to be somewhere around 30 days from delivery in practical terms. “Farmers tend to sell to middlemen at discounted prices to avoid repaying loans,” said Mr Murdoch. Mr Murdoch said Government was working on the modalities of a comprehensive stop order system that would hopefully eliminate this practice. Most strategic commodities and contracted crops were purchased by the Government through its establishments and contractors in recent seasons. The past season saw delayed payments for delivered crops such as wheat affecting farmers’ preparations for the new summer season as the crop was planted in rotation with other crops. The most crop rotation system was maize-wheat maize or soya bean – wheat soya bean. Delayed payments cost farmers’ crop yield potential as farmers struggled to get money for land preparation and sourcing of agricultural inputs. When the payments were later made the farmers had already lost out in exchange rate movements as sellers of inputs are always alert to rate movements as well as requiring hard currency for their inputs. Last year some stockists had to slash their prices in a festive season promotion to encourage farmers to buy inputs but this had little impact on production. bigdickenergy97 megafox nude – The Herald