The Sunday News
VICE-PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa has said the Grain Marketing Board was short changing Government by failing to properly account for more than $80 million it was allocated by the Treasury to pay farmers.
Over the past seasons farmers have complained that GMB had failed to pay for grain delivered resulting in some of them vowing never to sell their produce to the parastatal.
Addressing delegates during the International Business Conference held on Tuesday last week in Bulawayo VP Mnangagwa said GMB was failing to account for funds it receives from the Government.
“The critical concern at the GMB is that Government raised money, $80 million, for GMB to buy the product but GMB never bought the product and that grain that they got was sold to the market for processing but that money never comes back to us. The next season they want money from us and when we ask them ‘what happened to the money that we gave you since you got free grain and you sold it?’ we have never been able to find the answer,” said VP Mnangagwa.
He said the Government was going to look for the funds to ensure that farmers were paid for the grain they delivered to the parastatal.
“Because we are committed to pay the farmers and this is why the Government continues to pay the farmers despite GMB shortchanging us. This is constraining the fiscus but the Government’s desire is that people are paid as quickly as possible,” he said.
VP Mnangagwa said farmers were bearing the brunt of GMB’s failure to pay for the delivered produce.
“The biggest complaint is coming from the farmers who go to the next season before they are paid. We would have wanted that after harvesting and taking produce to the GMB or tobacco floors or Delta, if it’s soya or sorghum, one gets paid immediately so as to pay back loans. It’s a vicious circle, we want the stakeholders in that sector to dialogue with us,” said VP Mnangagwa.
Contacted for comment GMB acting general manager Mr Lawrence Jasi said he could not comment on the allegations adding that the matter was being handled at a higher level.
“I think the Treasury or the Ministry (of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development) can comment on that,” he said.
The grain company owes farmers about $50 million.
The Government had assured that by December 31, 2014, it would have cleared the arrears but failed to fulfill its promise.
Zimbabwe Farmers Union (ZFU) second vice-president Mr Berean Mukwende told the Sunday Business that the delay in payments affected farmers in procuring inputs and paying debts for the past farming season.
