“The country has imported 45 million kgs of wheat flour in four months at a total cost $27m – benefiting foreign wheat farmers. Yet the government failed to raise $20m to finance inputs for the 2012winter wheat season,” said Tafadzwa Musarara from GMAZ.
“The average cost of wheat flour per tonne imported through Mutare equals the producer price of local wheat. Empirical evidence we have shows that the imported flour is landing in Zimbabwe at prices lower than the source market. This constitutes dumping in terms of the World Trade rules,” added Musarara.
Wheat farmers argue they have managed to reposition themselves to produce adequate wheat stocks. Thus duty should now becharged on imported wheat so that it does not have an unfair advantage over locally produced wheat.
“Should the custom duties on imported wheat flour be revised upwards, the wheat milling industryundertakes not to increase the prices of wheat flour,” said Musarara.
President of the Commercial Famers Union, Charles Taffs, said the first thing that needs to be done is restoring legitimacy in farming in order to attract long term investment.
“At present farmers rely on contracts. With contracts the contractor is the one with a say because it is his money being used. If he decides to withdraw then the wheat farmer is in trouble. In Zimbabwe wheat farming relies on irrigation and the issue of power supply is a big factor. The government should also recapitalize the Grain Marketing Board so that it becomes a reliable buyer of last resort. Without this wheat farmers are not protected – thus fewer people are interested in venturing into it,” he said.
Post published in: News