Zimbabwe: Same Old Story Over Farm Preps

Source from:  Aug 31, 2007 tr.itsmyiq.com 09/03/2007

Zimbabwe's agricultural season is two months away and farmers have begun making the traditional land preparations and hunting for inputs, farm implements and financial lifelines. But The Financial Gazette of Harare reports that farmers remain skeptical about other stakeholders' commitment towards a vibrant agricultural season, especially concerning the disbursement of financial support to small-scale farmers without access to bank financing. Moreover, erratic power supplies and coal shortages, which have dogged operations in the past, are likely to present significant challenges to the farmers. Farmers in Nyabira say the main factor that has contributed to the fall in output had been the late disbursement of funding to farmers by financial institutions. The funding is from the government but is disbursed through banking institutions. Tobacco farmers have indicated that they would require 200 000 tons of coal this season. There are serious problems in the supply of coal from Hwange Colliery Company, the main supplier of coal. Irrigation needed for the dry planting of tobacco is likely to remain a pipedream for most farmers because of recurrent power blackouts that have destroyed the country's winter wheat. Assuming tobacco output per hectare would be at a minimum 2,500 kilograms per hectare, this would translate to about 150 million kilograms during the season, far ahead of the 2006/07 targets of 80 million kilograms. But government has to address all the impediments in order to encourage tobacco farmers, who have complained of poor producer prices. At the same time, input costs had been tracking hyperinflation. Agribank last week announced it had disbursed $305.9 billion Zimbabewan dollars ($1.2 billion USD) under the Agricultural Sector Productivity Enhancement Facility (ASPEF) this year for working capital and capital expenditure. Agribank has also disbursed $21.2 billion ($84.8 million USD) to A1 and communal farmers under the Public Sector Investment Prograe. "With regard to the 2007/08 summer crop season, Agribank is expected to finance 500,000 hectares of maize and 100,000 hectares of small grains. In partnership with the Tobacco Industry Marketing Board, Agribank is targeting 15,000 hectares of tobacco through the provision of inputs and working capital," says Agribank chief executive, Sam Malaba. In pursuit of this goal, government says it had put in place a number of financial lifelines like the US$200 million ($50 million ZWD) facility to finance inputs and capital equipment while the Zimbabwe Farmers Development Company/Chinese facility for tractors and related agricultural equipment involves US$25 million ($6.2 billion). Last week, the PTA Bank bankrolled the agro-export sector with a US$10 million ($2.5 billion ZWD) loan via Agribank. But while targets have been set, analysts say it is at the implementation stage that government has perennially failed and unless this hurdle is overcome, no plan could inspire the recovery of commercial agriculture, which has declined by at least 60 percent in seven years. Enditem