Harare, (New Ziana) – The Grain Marketing Board (GMB) said on Sunday it is running a maize for agricultural inputs swap scheme as it seeks to make it easy for farmers to access inputs ahead of the 2020/21 agricultural season.

Under the scheme, which is running until September 30, instead of getting money, farmers will get inputs such as seed and fertiliser, depending on the value of the tonnage of maize they wish to exchange the inputs for.

“Farmers with maize are encouraged to take advantage of this scheme to ensure that they have inputs before the onset of the rains,” GMB chief executive, Rockie Mutenha said in a statement.

While finer details regarding the swap scheme could not be immediately obtained, Mutenha said farmers will be getting the inputs which include compound D and ammonium nitrate fertiliser at “competitive prices.”

Farmers have already sounded warning bells on high input prices which they worry will hamper their ability to go back to the fields in the upcoming season given high inflation that has wiped benefits of the recently reviewed maize producer price of about $16 153 and a 30 percent incentive on deliveries.

Farmers feel the amount, which translates to about $21 000 per tonne, was no longer adequate because of high input costs.

Taking up of the maize, input swap scheme is expected to boost the country’s grain reserves.

As at July 24, the GMB had received 97 000 tonnes of maize, 3 240 tonnes of sorghum and 142 tonnes of millet from farmers.

To aid the staple maize production in the 2020/21 season, government has said it will provide support to 1.8 million households to grow maize and traditional grains.

Each family is expected to get a standard input package of 3-5kg seed, 50kg basal and 50 kg top dressing fertilisers.
New Ziana