MELISSA CHATIKOBO
FORMER board chairperson of Agriculture Rural Development Authority Basil Nyabadza says the government should consider venture capital to finance farming as most funding models are not beneficial to farmers,
Speaking at a wheat field day in Makoni district last week, Nyabadza said farmers were struggling to access finance and repay banks.
“Funding is critical to our farming, the farmer takes risks from day one believing that profit will come. There are serious challenges of which the farmer, chief among them, is the cost of money and access to inputs. If it wasn’t for this government financing Intwasa/Pfumvudza, many of us would be folding our arms.
“We have a serious challenge of our financing options as a nation; our banks are not working to the demands of Zimbabwe today. The farmers are struggling and finding it difficult and risky.
“We need venture capital money to come in whereby the farmer on day one must join in with the bank, the bank also taking part in risk on the crop and we move together until we graduate the farmer. We need the banks to come in with venture capital, bring skills and technical support,” he said.
Agriculture ministry Agritex chief director Obert Jiri said the corporate sector is very supportive through programmes such as Command Agriculture.
“The financing system in our country needs an overhaul as far as supporting agriculture is concerned, since the land reform most of our collateral is not bankable, we are working towards that. Working with CBZ Bank and AFC Bank have tried to push them to support the wheat farmers, I would not say the finance system is not functional because it is.
Already CBZ has contracted more than 20 000ha to date and AFC has contracted more than 6 000ha to date and those are farmers who are being contracted. We are working with them so that they are not left exposed as well as a business, the banking sector is supportive and we continue to encourage them to support the agricultural industry,” he said.
Currently banks are not offering loans to farmers, especially small-scale farmers, who cannot use land as collateral security as most do not have title deeds.