The Sunday News
INPUTS providers have started distributing seed and fertilisers to traders for easy accessibility by farmers as preparations for the 2014/15 summer cropping season gathers momentum.
Seed Association chairman Mr Walter Chigodora yesterday said nearly 20 000 tonnes of maize seed had been disbursed to farming areas.
“We have 34 000 tonnes of seed this season and the nation requires about 30 000 tonnes. Over 50 percent of the available stocks are in the market.
“Seed houses will not be offering extensive credit as this is expensive to finance, with high rates of interest on borrowing funds, and slow payments adding considerable costs to seed companies who only sell for a few weeks each year, yet carry 12 months of expenses,” he said.
Mr Chigodora said farmers started buying maize seed in May during the tobacco selling season.
“Currently, sales are normal. Some farmers wait for the rains to buy suitable varieties.
“Lack of disposable income and expectations of the Government input programme are limiting sales at this time,” he said.
Last season about 1,6 million households benefited from the Presidential Well-wishers input scheme.
Mr Chigodora said few farmers buy certified seed for small grain crops as they normally exchange varieties among themselves.
“Other crop seeds like soyabeans and sugar beans are sufficient to meet requirements, but small grain seeds are in short supply, due to low levels of production,” he said.
SeedCo sales and marketing manager Mr Ivan Craig said his company has enough stocks to meet demand but warned farmers against buying counterfeit seed.
The company introduced new packaging this season to deal with counterfeit.
“Still that is not enough. Farmers must buy seed from reputable outlets to ensure that they do not end up buying counterfeit seed,” he said.
Mr Craig said the country must also start treating people who are counterfeiting seed in the same way those involved in stock theft are treated.
Stock theft attracts jail terms from a minimum of nine years.
“If you look at the monetary value the loss is the same. If you buy counterfeited seed and plant a hectare, the loss you experience is the same or more than the person who loses a beast. The country needs to punish those counterfeiting seed the same way they are punishing those involved in stock theft,” he said in Bulawayo on Friday.
Meanwhile, fertiliser industry spokesperson Mr Misheck Kachere said uptake of fertilisers had not improved since many people did not have disposable cash.
“It is too early to talk of the improvement in the uptake of fertilisers. People are buying fertiliser but the figures are still insignificant,” he said. Zimbabwe Farmers Union president Mr Abdul Nyathi said some farmers with irrigation facilities have started planting tobacco and maize.
“Farmers are concentrating on land preparations while others are buying inputs. The Grain Marketing Board has paid most farmers who delivered their crop to its depots and this has enabled many farmers to procure inputs for this coming season,” he said.
GMB is buying grain at $390 per tonne a price which many farmers said was viable. — BH24/Business Reporter
