BULAWAYO The government has bailed out the struggling Grain Marketing Board (GMB) The struggling GMB failed last year to pay for grain, maize and wheat delivered by farmers, forcing many farmers to approach the courts. “As a result of marathon meetings between Ministries of Finance and Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development and GMB officials, the government has availed funding for immediate disbursements to clear all outstanding payments up to 16 February 2010,” said the parastatal in a statement.
The struggling parastatal also said it had raised well over US$1.7 million through grain bills to finance grain purchases. The raised funds are expected to go towards buying grain as the grain purchaser failed to pay farmers for grain delivered to its depots due to a liquidity crunch. Farmers were getting fertilizers and chemicals instead of cash for grain delivered to the parastatal’s depots countrywide, but the inputs have run dry.