HARARE Zimbabwe Farmers Union (ZFU) has signed a collateral deal with companies dealing in farming inputs to assist both commercial and small-scale farmers during the 2009/2010 farming season, an official has said. ZFU spokesperson, Phill Chingwaru, said his union has engaged NICO-OGO fertilizer company to assist farmers struggling to get inputs due to cash unavailability. Chingwaru said the union realised that most small-scale farmers were failing to secure funds to purchase inputs and were now under pricing their animals.
“We initiated this gesture after noting that farmers are struggling to secure funds to purchase their inputs. We have negotiated with companies selling inputs to assist farmers that do not have cash. The agreement is that they sell their inputs to farmers on a barter trade whereby farmers will exchange maize for seeds and fertilizers and these companies then sell maize to millers. For now, we have engaged fertilizer companies and we are still negotiating with Seed Co, the largest seed company in the country,” said Chingwaru.
NICO-OGO agreed to charge US$27 for each fertilizer bag including delivery to farmers in all corners of the country. “This move will extensively help farmers since transportation costs are catered for. We expect farmers to utilise this opportunity which seeks to curb problems affecting them,” he said. The Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers Union (ZCFU) director, Phillip Taunago, also said farmers’ unions were sourcing funds for farmers without cash to purchase inputs.
“We are sourcing funds from donors to assist our members. However, this money will only be given to our members. For other farmers, we will try to source inputs at subsidized prices,” said Taunago.
Post published in: News