Farai Mabeza, Senior Staff Writer 
THE government plans to shift from maize production to wheat this winter to cut the country’s huge import bill and ensure self-sufficiency in the commodity.
The move — which comes in the wake of an anticipated bumper maize harvest this season — would likely ease wheat shortages and cut down on bread prices.
“With a good harvest for maize, we need now to move to the next crop, wheat. We are planning for self-sufficiency in wheat in the next two seasons.
“This winter we want to produce 300 000 metric tonnes of wheat out of the 360 000 tonnes that we consume.
Agriculture minister Anxious Masuka
“So, we want the winter maize programme to be replaced by a winter wheat programme so that we can augment production,” Agriculture minister Anxious Masuka told the media during a field day last week.
This comes as Zimbabwe has experienced serious wheat deficits for many years due to a number of issues — chief among them power cuts, reduced hectarage and water shortages — two decades after the country embarked on chaotic agrarian reforms.
Zimbabwe needs an estimated 400 000 tonnes of wheat per year to enable bakers meet their 950 000 loaves per day production.
Meanwhile, Masuka said maize, wheat, soya bean and cotton, as national strategic crops, would not be traded on the agriculture commodity exchange.
“Let me clarify here, maize, wheat soya beans and cotton will not be part of the warehouse receipt system and will not be part of the commodity exchange.
“These are key national strategic crops that ought to uplift people in the rural areas and to attain Vision 2030. The commodities exchange and the warehouse receipt system will operate outside these major crops for a start,” Masuka said.
Maize is marketed under Statutory Instrument 145 of 2019 and will remain the responsibility of the Grain Marketing Board (GMB).
The commodities exchange — Zimbabwe Mercantile Exchange — will have 18 commodities trading on its platform.
The government launched the exchange platform last December, saying the initiative would ensure farmers got market determined prices for their commodities.
Zimbabwe had a commodity exchange which was closed when the government gave State grain procurer GMB the monopoly to buy and sell maize and wheat in 2001.
The commodities exchange, which will be supported by a warehousing receipt system, is expected to close the existing arbitrage gaps caused by middlemen and stimulate price discovery. It aims to provide an organised market for players across the value chain.
The government intends to use the initiative to encourage formalisation of small-scale farmers, thereby ensuring sustainability of farming activities, access to credit facilities through collateralisation of agricultural produce and enhance farmers’ contribution to employment creation. The government has allocated US$500 000 as shareholding capital for the project.
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