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Government seeks money to buy maize

    ABIDJAN

    The Zimbabwe government is negotiating with banks to buy at least 900,000 mt of maize from farmers, the official ‘The Herald’ reported on Monday. The newspaper said that the state-owned Grain Marketing Board (GMB) has this year failed to buy maize from farmers due to a lack of funds. It added that officials from the ministries of agriculture, and finance and economic development were engaged in negotiations with banks to see how the purchase of maize could be bankrolled.

    Agriculture Minister Joseph Made told Parliament on Wednesday that the cash-flow problems at the GMB were a result of a debt arising partly from maize imports of 1998/99, which were sold below market prices. The debt was partly due to offshore borrowings to import maize and borrowings on the local market to buy the local crop. “Bankers want some secure guarantee that the board will be able to trade and repay the money so raised through grain bills. This secure guarantee comes in the form of a government guarantee. We are going to buy grain through the GMB and we are hoping the problem of resources will be resolved soon,” said Made.

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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