Farai Mabeza, Senior Staff Writer 
FARMERS say they have no option but to rely on government support given the lack of funding options on the market, even though they admit this might not be sustainable in the long run.
This comes after the government recently emphasised that its various support programmes for farmers would stay for the foreseeable future.
It also comes amid a plethora of challenges facing production in the agriculture sector, which have seen farmers under contract schemes side-marketing their produce.
Agriculture minister Anxious Masuka
“The challenges range from low productivity, low yields, which are related to climate change issues, and access to finance. The cost of funds at the moment is way above the means of many farmers. The agricultural input price, which contributes significantly to the cost of production in general, is kicking many farmers out of business,” Zimbabwe Farmers Union secretary general Paul Zakariya told The Financial Gazette last week.
“So you look also at the macroeconomic environment, the poor performance of the Zimbabwe dollar against major currencies, driven obviously by a number of other factors. So all this is the environment in which a farmer is supposed to operate.”
Contract farming has assisted many farmers to produce in the face of funding challenges, but though this has resulted in high production, particularly in the tobacco sector, other challenges persist.
“… in contract farming, the government has become a major player because every other player is shunning agriculture finance. So the government has had to move in, chip in and fill in that gap, and we see the various schemes that the government is advancing at the moment, and, of course, introducing climate proofing mechanisms so that farmers preserve at least the inputs themselves,” Zakariya said.
“So, whether this is the best (system) is a matter for another day. Is it sustainable? Probably not. But the reality on the ground is that this is the only alternative available.”
“Side marketing is fuelled by all these factors and more so when the producer prices are very low and the producer prices are paid late or sometimes not paid at all, so the farmer is left with no option but to at least salvage some value out of the produce that he or she has.”
“That also has a negative impact on agriculture investment because many private sector players have had to pull out. Our value chain financing schemes have also suffered heavily because of that. So it is on both sides. Farmers have an appetite to side market and also there are private sector players who move in to purchase produce which they did not contract,” he added.
Agriculture minister Anxious Masuka recently said the government would maintain various agriculture support programmes, saying this was critical for Zimbabwe’s economic development.
This has seen calls coming from various sectors for the government to create an enabling environment for agriculture funding to come exclusively from the private sector, which, for various reasons, remains unable to fully support the sector.
The agriculture ministry has in the past acknowledged that the growth of the sector remains constrained by a lack of access to long-term finance.
This, it says, is behind its interventions that include the remodelling of Agribank into AFC Holdings and its different subsidiaries, input support programmes, the horticulture revolving fund and a facility mooted to localise the financing of tobacco.
Masuka said to fully develop agriculture in Zimbabwe, government interventions remained necessary adding that this position would be maintained for the foreseeable future until the private sector comes fully on board.
“Yes, there are farmers that are self-financed, that can approach banks for finance… but looking at the government’s role in a developmental state… there is robust debate with some saying the government must remain a facilitator, creating an enabling environment, or the government must be both an actor and a facilitator.
“I am persuaded that the government ought to be a very active actor and a very active facilitator in a developmental state.
“This is why we have responded in the manner that we have seen the government funding agriculture until such a time that others can see value in what we are doing,” Masuka said.
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