The Sunday News
Harare Bureau
MORE than 200 000 tonnes of wheat have been delivered to the Grain Marketing Board to date, eclipsing the 156 115 tonnes received by the same time last year.
Due to the increased output, Zimbabwe has been able to significantly cut the wheat import bill, saving the country more than US$100 million in foreign currency through import substitution.
Responding to questions from The Sunday Mail, GMB acting chief executive Mr Forward Takaindisa said:
“We have so far received 205 251 tonnes of wheat compared to 156 115 during the same period last year.
“As at December 22 we had received 987 194 tonnes of maize compared to 161 520 during the same period last year,” he said.
GMB has designated 18 depots around the country as collection points for wheat, with about 300 000 tonnes expected from this year’s winter cropping season.
Mr Takaindisa also revealed that the grain utility has distributed more than 98 000 tonnes of agriculture inputs, including seed and fertiliser, to support smallholder farmers under the Climate-Proofed Presidential Input Scheme (Pfumvudza/Intwasa).
Distribution of the inputs is still ongoing through 87 GMB depots countrywide.
“We have so far distributed 77 630 tonnes of Compound D, 1 645 tonnes of Top Dressing, 16 421 tonnes of maize seed, 1 971 tonnes of soyabean seed, 1 154 tonnes of sorghum seed, 170 tonnes of ground nut seed and 241 573 two hundred millilitre bottles of fall armyworm chemical,” said Mr Takaindisa.
About 2,3 million households will receive support under the programme, which is targeting to put 280 000 hectares under food crops this summer season.
Last season, 1,8 million households benefitted from the programme.
