The local milling industry is owed more than $5 million by farmers who are under the government initiated contract farming most of whom, are either selling farming implements on the parallel market, or defaulting on paying their debts, Parliament has heard.
Government in 2011 directed all players in the agricultural sectors to embark on contract farming on wheat and maize crops, where the market would sponsor producers or farmers to grow the two crops.
Under this arrangement, milling companies would give inputs to farmers on condition that the latter sell the crops to the former after harvesting.
Presenting oral evidence before the Parliamentary portfolio committee on Lands Agriculture Mechanization and Irrigation, last week, Grain Millers Association of Zimbabwe chairperson, Tafadzwa Musarara, said contract agriculture had killed the milling industry.
“Contract farming has not recorded the success that we desired due to challenges such as side marketing, inputs abuse and poor crop husbandry,” he said.
“The industry as I speak is owed over $5 million amounting from defaults by famers who have either side marketed the crop or abused the inputs,” said Musarara.
Abuse of inputs is not new to the country’s agricultural sector. There have been such reports of agriculture input abuse by mostly the beneficiaries of the land reform programme which government initiated in 2000.
Musarara begged parliament to push for a hasher penalty on people found guilty of abusing farming inputs.
“It is our prayer that your committee does everything in its power to ensure that side marketing and abuse of inputs are criminalized currently if there is a default on the basis of these two we are forced to pursue litigation which sometimes takes three to four years,” said Musarara.
