AMID the looming spectre of La Nina weather, the cereal sub-committee of drought action committee (DAC) has urged contractors and funders of the 2023/24 farming season to roll over farmers' debt into a medium-term financing facility.
This came up at the Zimbabwe Agriculture Resilience Symposium and drought action committee feedback meeting held in Harare recently.
Cereal sub-committee head and Food Crop Contractors Association (FCCA) chairman, Mr Graeme Murdoch said the country ought to take advantage of the La Nina phenomenon to restock the strategic grain reserve (SGR), rebuild farmers' viability and feed the nation.
"As a result of El Nino, all cereal and oilseed crop yields were severely affected resulting in farmers being incapacitated to repay their loans and/or fund operations for the coming summer season.
"We call for the roll-over of farmers and contractors' debt into a medium-term facility with the Government creating financial instruments to assist with farmer viability," he said.
Mr Murdoch said the 2023/24 season El Nino drought was the worst in 43 years with aggregate rainfall at its lowest over this period and severely hitting the grain belt Mashonaland provinces of the country.
He applauded proactive the response by Government to allow various players to start grain imports since October last year that enabled the product to be constantly available on the market to date.
Mr Murdoch said there were various interventions such as issuance of prescribed asset status to unlock pension, insurance and private investor funds to be used in primary agriculture production, which Government could do to enhance farmer viability.
"There is need to address liquidity challenges affecting primary agriculture production as a lot of banks are reluctant to lend to this sector due to non-performing loan records of the past. "