Grain silos which used to be an indelible and majestic feature in the country’s farming towns since independence, have since the turn of the millennium been reduced into a sorry state.
For two decades, silos had come to symbolise the hope of food security in the country, then referred to as the bread basket of Southern Africa.
A recent visit to some of the silos in Magunje and Banket bore testimony to the poor state of the infrastructure.
An employee at the Magunje depot told NewsDay that in the last decade, the silos had never been filled and they had suffered neglect.
“We used to fill these storage bins, but in the last decade we have not managed to go beyond three quarters, and Grain Marketing Board (GMB) has failed to adequately look after the silos citing cash shortages,” he said.
The situation is similar in Norton, Concession and Lions’ Den.
Zimbabwe has been battling food shortages since the turn of the millennium, but the loss of trust by farmers in the GMB has reduced silos into empty shells. Last year, GMB failed to pay farmers on time for grain delivered and this has led to a cautious approach by most farmers in the country, leading many to either withhold their crop or to sell it to unlicensed dealers who offer higher prices. Agriculture Mechanisation and Irrigation Development minister Joseph Made told an Agricultural Marketing Authority stakeholder consultative workshop recently that Cabinet had directed him, together with Finance minister Tendai Biti to consider proposals from food processing companies to buy grain from GMB. “We have reached an agreement as the government to go ahead and consider companies to advance money under agro-bills to buy grain from GMB,” he said. “We want to contribute to the payment of farmers who have delivered their wheat and maize.” Most of the companies that have been cleared to buy the grain, he said, had been importing maize and wheat from nearby countries. In her report on State Parastatals and Enterprises presented to Parliament recently, Comptroller and Auditor-General, Mildred Chiri noted that grain silos were no longer moisture proof and grain stored in these bins ran the risk of rotting. “The grain silos are either cracked and they let water seep in from below due to dysfunctional drainage systems,” she said. “As such, grain stored in these bins either cakes or loses quality over time since silo plants have not been regularly serviced.” Apart from storing the strategic grain reserve, the silos also provide storage to private entities at a fee. Storage bins at Aspindale depot, Norton, Concession, Magunje, Banket and Lions’ Den are leaking. With the moisture permeable silos, the parastatal may fail to meet the requirements of the strategic grain reserves due to stocks damaged by moisture and a huge loss of revenue due to poor storage facilities. Chiri recommended the rehabilitation of bins and continuous service of the silo plants. Besides the poor condition of grain silos, most of the weighbridge computers at depots are not functional, which resulted in information on weights being recorded manually. “The suppliers had to agree on the weight with GMB employees and then record the agreed tonnage. “This has resulted in fraudulent activities at other depots such as Lions’ Den,” she said, adding that the GMB had inadequate vehicles for use in its daily operations such as banking, marketing and selling, including the transportation of grain. This caused serious delays in the movement of grain from bag to silo depots and the grain at bag depots was damaged due to exposure to agents of weather. “Numerous grain write-offs have occurred in the past because of this issue. “For instance, there were delays in collecting grain bagged at Nembudziya depot and by the time it was transferred to Chegutu depot the grain had deteriorated to the extent that on reaching the silos it was reclassified as under grade,” Chiri said. The GMB runs the risk of failing to adequately achieve its mandate of ensuring that the country has sufficient stocks of maize due to a series of problems.
