Farmers challenged to pay their debts

MARONDERA- Farmers must honour and pay back the loans which they access from
financial institutions as well as pay their bills to service providers so that the country’s
agriculture sector remains viable.
Dr John Bhasera who is the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture,
Fisheries, Water and Rural Development said this when he addressed the province’s wheat
farmers at a meeting held at the Marondera Country Club last week.
His remarks followed farmers’ revelations that they were burdened by loans extended to them
in 2021, which they were failing to pay back due to inflationary exchange rates and
astronomical interest charges.
“When it comes to the issue of loans between farmers and banks, it must always be a win-win
situation. Farmers are given the loans to help them in their agricultural operations and when
they harvest their crops and get paid, they must make it a priority that they pay back the bank
loans.
“They must also pay for the electricity and water which they use Zimbabwe Electricity
Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC) and Zimbabwe National Water Authority
(ZINWA) so that those entities remain viable,” he said.
He added that in the coming winter wheat season, power supply will be re-phased to wheat
producing clusters.
“We want to ensure the continued sufficiency of wheat and flour production in the country
and being aware that the country is currently facing electricity shortages, we will ring-fence
power supply in areas that have more wheat farmers. Let us treat electricity as an input which
must be well-managed,” Dr Bhasera said.
The country is targeting to grow 85 000 hectares of winter wheat. Last season, the country
harvested 375 000 metric tonnes of the cereal against the yearly requirement of 360 000
metric tonnes.
“If our farmers do everything according to the book, we will surpass last season’s figures.
The agriculture sector is going for broke and maximum utilisation of land marks the success
of our land reform programme. Zimbabwe and Ethiopia are the only African countries that
are wheat sufficient and we must keep the momentum,” Dr Bhasera said.