GOVERNMENT owes suppliers over US$300 million for deliveries made under the Pfumvudza/Intwasa agricultural scheme since 2020, putting the viability of the programme under threat, Agriculture ministry secretary Obert Jiri has revealed.
Jiri said this while appearing before the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Agriculture on the farm inputs distribution programme ahead of the 2024/25 farming season.
“We are getting there, but we are not yet fully ready as usual, which is not what we want,” he said.
“The main challenge of the Pfumvudza scheme is financing. Our contractors whom we have Valley Seeds, Home Fertiliser, Cotton Seeds, ZFC, Windmill are owed in excess of more than US$300 million, for the 2020 season to date.
“We owe them quite a lot and this is what delays the movement. If we don’t pay them, they face challenges in moving inputs.”
The government introduced the programme a few years ago to boost yields, especially for communal and smallholder farmers in response to climate change effects.
Government now distributes farming inputs under the programme.
Pfumvudza contributed 41% to total maize production in the 2020/21 season.
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Jiri warned that delays in paying the contracts will affect early planning.
“We haven’t been able to move about 50% of the fertiliser, which is a major input,” he said.
“We think that we should be done if resources are available today.
“With regards to the preparedness of Pfumvudza, we are moving with what we are able to do outside the resource requirements, particularly in paying the suppliers and the transporters.”
The Southern Africa Regional Climate Outlook Forum forecasts showed that most of the region will receive favourable rains from November through to March 2025.
This optimistic forecast, which has given local farmers hope, follows a devastating drought that gripped the region in the 2023/24 farming season.
