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Obert Chifamba Agri-Insight

IF there was to be a competition to pick the most consistent party spoilers in the agricultural production process, farmers would easily be forgiven for giving it to input suppliers for maintaining a culture of effecting input price increases at the start of every season.

Suffice it to say therefore that input suppliers have this time around easily managed to ruin the triumphant mood farmers had picked from the bumper harvests they scored last season and were naturally gunning for more success this coming term.

Just last year, the price of Ammonium Nitrate was $3 059, but that has since been increased to $3 800 per 50kg bag while Compound D that was pegged at $2 634 is now $2 850.

On the one hand, the prices of seed have also increased with a 50 000-kennel bag currently selling for between $8 800 and $13 000 while prices for 25kg bags are ranging between $12 000 and $17 000 depending on the outlet from which one is buying the product.

Of course the farmers’ misery will also be compounded by the fact that besides rising seed prices, fertilisers (both Compound D and Ammonium Nitrate) too have seen a 27 percent jump in prices with labour witnessing a 51 percent jump in costs while tractors and other pieces of equipment recorded a 144 percent increase.

In fact, it is no rocket science that these price increases and the resultant spike in the costs of production will essentially water down the zeal with which farmers have been doing their business, as they cannot afford the new prices given that producer prices for some crops, for instance, maize have not changed for the past two seasons yet producing the crop commercially has once again become one of the most rewarding enterprises.

Of course many farmers can at the moment easily find refuge in the Government sponsored programmes such as Pfumvudza/Intwasa or Command Agriculture but the reality on the ground is that they usually want to have self-financed operations running on the sidelines too. The effects of the input price increases will be telling in the eventual yields that many expected to even triple this time around to allow the country to even resume exports of the cereal to regional markets while adequately meeting industry’s demand for raw materials as well.

It would help the farmers greatly if producer prices were also periodically reviewed in line with the goings-on in the rest of the economic sectors so that their enterprises would remain viable.

The Government last week gave wheat farmers something to smile about when it reviewed upwards the price of wheat to $55 517, 69 per tonne for the ordinary grade at a 15 percent return on investment and $66 621, 22 per tonne for premium grade for the 2021 marketing season.

The new prices will enable farmers to go back into production and will to a significant extent smother the harsh effects caused by changes in input prices on the viability of producing a crop like wheat, especially with the high production costs associated with high input prices.

It is, however, refreshing to note that the Government has always been there for the farmers and has done its best under the circumstances to ensure farmers get prices that motivate them to deliver their wheat crop to the Grain Marketing Board (GMB) and has always availed funds for the purchase of grain.

But one thing farmers must always bear in mind is that viable prices must also be supported by hard work on their part coupled by the best management practices that will enable them to score optimum yields per hectare.

They must remember that getting viable prices is one thing and sustaining production is another so the two must complement each other if the sector is record growth.

If the recent wheat producer price increase is anything to go by, one will realise that producing the crop even under a hectare will be decently rewarding if proper management prices are employed.

A well-managed hectare of wheat can yield between seven and eight tonnes of wheat although in most parts of the country many farmers normally produce up to five tonnes of wheat per hectare, which is not bad and should allow them to break even.

The bottom line, however, is that the Government should constantly review producer prices for all crops in line with the prevailing economic environment to ensure farmers can finance their operations even in the absence of support programmes.

This will also relieve the Government of the burden of investing in farming every other season and focus on other sectors that may also be in dire need of such assistance.

However, as the bite of the current input price increases takes its toll on the farmers’ preparations for the 2021/22 cropping season, not all is gloomy, thanks to the introduction numerous support programmes by the Government and private sector players.

These programmes will, essentially allow farmers to produce enough both for food security and their general socio-economic requirements.

The Government has since indicated that the 2021/22 summer programme strategic objective is to sustainably increase crop production and productivity to meet and surpass the national requirements for both human consumption and industrial use through religious implementation of the key tenets of the Agriculture Recovery Plan anchored on innovations that include conservation agriculture to climate proof the Presidential Input Scheme and the provision of inputs (fertilisers, seed, agrochemicals and other key inputs).

These will also include ensuring a constant supply of key utilities such as power and fuel to farmers, roping in the private and financial services sectors, improving access to appropriate finance for inputs and working capital as well as the continuous supporting of targeted farmers with irrigation and mechanisation services to improve efficiencies and climate proofing.

The Government has prioritised capacitating the extension and advisory services delivery system to enhance farmer’s production and productivity needs and also helped prepare farmers for a transition to agriculture as a business paradigm and introduced coordinated monitoring and evaluation and satellite-aided crop area and yield assessments.

The forthcoming cropping programme will be funded through public, private, development partners’ support and Public Private Partnership arrangements with the Government financing the Presidential crop and livestock input schemes through Treasury and providing guarantees for its programmes funded through AFC and CBZ banks.

Crops produced outside the Government funded programmes will get support from private contractors, farmers’ own resources and development partners and this will naturally bring some relief for the majority of farmers that would have been left in a quandary in the wake of the high input prices.

At least 2, 3 million vulnerable households are already guaranteed of resources to participate effectively in the 2021/22 cropping season through the Presidential Inputs Scheme. They now just need to pray for the heavens to be once again generous with the rains like they did last season.