AMA seeks $55 million to buy grain

Grain Marketing Board staffers watch as bags of maize are loaded from a rail wagon to a haulage truck in this file photo

Published: 02 July 2014

THE Agricultural Marketing Authority (AMA) has issued $55 million bills to raise money to fund the purchase of about 250,000 metric tonnes of grain from the 2013/14 season.

The authority was established through an Act of Parliament (Chapter 18:24) to regulate the participation in production, buying and processing agricultural produce in the country.

In an interview, AMA chief executive officer Rocky Mutenha said the floatation was open-ended until the required amount was secured.

"The floatation was done on Sunday and has no a specific time frame of when it will close. The flotation will remain open until the money required ($55 million) is secured.

"The floatation will remain open because we also take into congnisance the organisations that would have invested elsewhere and are interested to participate in the floatation cannot do so until their money has matured so that they can re-invest it in buying the bills," he said.

It is also hoped that if secured the $55 million would be used to recapitalise the Grain Marketing Board (GMB), which over the past few years has been struggling to raise capital to buy maize from local producers to strengthen the strategic grain reserve.

In the 2014 national budget, Finance and Economic Development Minister Patrick Chinamasa allocated GMB $96 million against the $355 million the parastatal requested to boost the strategic grain reserve.

At the beginning of the year, the strategic grain reserve had about 30,000 metric tonnes compared to the 500,000 required.

The strategic grain reserve has been exposed to unfavourable storage conditions prompting GMB to embark on silo rehabilitation to prevent grain losses due to quality deterioration.

Last year, the maize procurement by GMB was characterised by low grain intakes due to low production output owing to inadequate inputs availed to farmers as well as a result of climate change phenomena.

However, it is hoped that Zimbabwe will be able to sustain human and livestock requirements for this year due to a good harvest the country has recorded as a result of good rains recorded in different parts of the country.
- The Herald