BY RUTENDO NGARA
Staff Writer
JUSTICE Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi has shot down a proposal by Senators for the government to give farmers access for loans to purchase diesel generators to mitigate the effects of power outages at their farms saying they cannot afford them owing to low incomes.
This comes as farmers have been crying foul over the late payments for their produce by the Grain Marketing Board (GMB) which is causing season planning failure.
Responding to a proposal by Chief Chikwaka in the Senate on Thursday for the government to avail loans to buy diesel generators, Ziyambi who is the leader of government business in Parliament said farmers would be bankrupted.
“From the research conducted by our agricultural experts, the profits that the farmers realise are nominal. If we then allow them to get generators that require a lot of diesel, they will end up not rejoicing at the end of the day when they realise that they no longer have any profits,” Ziyambi said.
He said, instead, the government was working to ensure improved power generation in the country. “The President (Emmerson Mnangagwa) is making sure that we are able to come up with power generating plants in a lot of places. He is busy looking for independent power producers so that they can feed their power into the grid.
“Through the ministry of Energy, we are also busy ensuring that private players and households have solar panels and generate their own power and also feed excess power into the grid.
“This will ensure that Zesa also comes up with supply lines to ensure that our farmers have an uninterrupted power supply. When we look at the cost benefit analysis of giving generators to farmers, we realise that the farmers will not benefit from anything”.
Meanwhile Ziyambi revealed that the Treasury had completed paying farmers for the grain which was delivered last summer despite the government being on record that they should be paid within 72 hours of delivery.
“As of Friday last week, the understanding that we got from the treasury was that some funds were released to ensure that farmers are paid. “The government paid farmers the local currency component first so that we cushion the farmers against the inflationary pressures that they may bear on the Zimbabwe dollar component.
“The treasury is now working on ensuring that all the farmers are paid as soon as possible and they clear their outstanding amount,” Ziyambi said further.