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GOVERNMENT should be lauded for releasing $11 million to the Grain Marketing Board to pay farmers for grain delivered to depots across the country so that they step up preparations for the forthcoming farming season.

In our Friday issue, we indicated that this amount brings the total figure released in less than two months by Treasury to $40 million following the disbursement of another $15 million four weeks ago and $14 million a week ago.

Yes, our farmers are aware that the country is facing serious challenges, but authorities should be warned that these delays in releasing money by GMB remain one of the reasons why the country experiences food deficit.

Farmers need a lot of support ranging from technical support, cloud seeding for those depending on rain fed agriculture and prompt payment upon delivery of grain to State-run marketing arms such as GMB.

The delays have seen the country, despite a successful land reform programme that ushered in over 300 000 new indigenous farmers, still importing food from countries such as Malawi and Zambia that share almost the same weather patterns with us.

Due to the vagaries of climate change, rainfall patterns have become very unpredictable in Zimbabwe and planning becomes very critical if farmers are to produce meaningful yields by the end of each rainy season.

To the majority of our farmers who have no water bodies on their farms and rely on God given rains in summer, the business becomes very risky and prompt land preparation and planting become very critical.

With timeous payment by GMB, several months before the onset of the farming season, farmers will ensure that their inputs such as seed, fertilisers and chemicals among others are in place.

For those who use animal draught power, they will ensure that their oxen are fit and free from disease, while those in the commercial farming sector, tractors, reapers, planters among other farming implements will be mechanically sound.

This has not been the case for sometime now. This preparatory work needs money and the only source of that money for farmers are proceeds of their produce grown the previous farming season.

Farming should be a self-financing business, but of late many farmers especially those in the cereal crops farming business have been hamstrung as the GMB had been collecting maize, but without paying.

No meaningful farming preparations have been taking place since the beginning of the year as the farmers desperately waited for GMB to deliver after collecting their produce.

Authorities know that farming is a delicate business and once a farmer is frustrated by the marketing season, he/she is persuaded to try an alternative viable crop in the region in the process, compromising national food security.

No business is prepared to run into losses created by the inefficiency of the end market of the process and farmers likewise will end up weighing food security status of the country against their well-being as individuals.

Year in year out farmers’ preparations are inhibited by the lack of money for tillage and to buy farming inputs and this calls for everyone involved in the chain of production play to play ball to ensure the country produces surplus for export. There are many businesses whose source of livelihood is farming and any blunder will see those businesses going under and it is not convincing to tell desperate farmers that “bear with us, Government does not have money.”

We, therefore, call upon the Government to ensure that farmers in future receive first payment priority to ensure that they are incentivised to grow more food for the country and save foreign currency that is being used to import food.