In her recent report to Parliament, Mildred Chiri, the Comptroller and Auditor General, said: “The grain silos are either cracked or they let water seep in from below due to dysfunctional drainage systems. As such, grain stored in these bins either cakes or loses quality over time as the silo plants have not been regularly serviced.”
Stores of grain have been written off as rotten across the country, with the latest incident being at Nembudziya depot, where bagged grain deteriorated to such an extent that on reaching the silos at the district headquarters at Chegutu, it was reclassified as under grade.
Apart from storing the strategic grain reserve, the silos also provide storage to private entities at a fee. Storage bins at Aspindale depot, Norton, Concession, Magunje, Banket and Lions Den are leaking.
Chiri recommended the rehabilitation of bins and continuous servicing of the silo plants. She also noted that most of the weighbridge computers at depots are not functional, which resulted in information have to be recorded manually.
“The suppliers had to agree on the weight with GMB employees and then record the agreed tonnage. This has resulted in fraudulent activities at depots such as Lions Den,” she said in her report.
She also noted that the GMB had inadequate vehicles for use in its daily operations such as banking, marketing and the transportation of grain. This caused serious delays in the movement of grain from bag to silo depots, resulting in damage from being left out in all sorts of weather.
Because of these problems, the GMB runs the risk of failing to adequately achieve its mandate of ensuring that the country has sufficient stocks of maize.
Post published in: Agriculture