Wheat contract farming arrangement in limbo

Wheat contract farming arrangement in limbo
Published: 06 March 2014
The contract farming arrangement between the Grain Millers Association of Zimbabwe and the Bakers Association has failed due to "poor long-term commitment".

GMAZ president Tafadzwa Musarara told the inaugural Buy Zimbabwe Bakers and Millers Conference this morning that they were not getting support from the bakers.

"The contract farming arrangement we had with the Bakers Association of Zimbabwe has failed. We thought we were going to get long-term commitment, but the support is not coming from the bakers," he said.

Musarara suggested that bakers should be compelled to divulge the figures of how much flour they were sourcing from local millers and importing.

"Why are they not supporting us? We are now on the verge of pushing for extremism because for the last three years we have been talking and most of the milling companies are closing down and one or two are under judicial management.

"I understand that this country is consuming between 1 million and 1,2 million loaves of bread a day. If each loaf is sold for a dollar, it means this country is consuming $365 million a year, why is it then that we are failing to raise $30 million for the support of winter wheat farming?" he said.

Since its proposal last year, the contract farming arrangement has faced challenges with GMAZ withdrawing its initial offer of funding winter wheat production last year, citing Government's failure to gazette a Statutory Instrument to protect them from side-marketing.

Meanwhile, debate during the conference centred on the issue of high level of imports from the region.

Anchor Yeast chief operations officer Muvirimi Kupara said the high level of imports was damaging the local baking industry.

"Zimbabwe's long-term best interest is industrialisation. If we are not buying local, we are effectively exporting jobs and promoting other countries," he said.

The bakers, however, maintained that some of them had turned to importing flour because they were facing viability problems and that imports were more cost effective.

They also argued that local flour tends to come in different levels of quality and various specifications (such as gristing ratios) which posed a significant challenge to the bakers as this affects their output. The bakers suggested that all local four should be blended so as to improve consistency.

Musarara, however, said his association has since approached the Ministry of Finance to put a Statutory Instrument in place that will slow down flour imports.
- BH24
Tags: Wheat,

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