Farmers want maize price hike

Farming organisations, the Zimbabwe Farmers Union (ZFU), the Commercial Farmers Union (CFU), and the Indigenous Commercial Farmers Union (ICFU), want the Grain Marketing Board (GMB) to announce a producer price for maize of up to US $139 a mt, three times more than last year’s price, the ‘Zimbabwe Independent’ reported on Friday. The farmers want the government to review the producer price so as to cushion them against prevailing harsh economic conditions. “If we are going back to the fields in the coming season then the price of maize should be around $16,000 per mt (US $139) because inputs have become so expensive that after purchasing basic inputs we won’t be in a position to pay workers or even school fees for our children,” Denford Chimdwanda of the ICFU said. Chimbwanda also said farmers might be forced to resort to selling their crop to informal buyers. “Some farmers have already started selling their crop to stock-feeding farmers because they are offering a better price, and with such a scenario a shortage cannot be averted,” he said.