Published: 20 September 2017

Government is considering approaching the private sector to assist with storage facilities for wheat as the country's silos will filled with grain harvested during the 2016/17 summer cropping season, a senior official has said.

Minister of Lands and Resettlement Dr Douglas Mombeshora recently said that the Grain Marketing Board (GMB) had the capacity to take in the grains produced last season but the challenge would come when wheat harvesting begins.

The early planted wheat crop is expected to be harvested starting this month."I thank farmers for a job well done in 2016/17 season. You have demonstrated your prowess in ensuring national food security. Your overwhelming response to the Special Maize Import Substitution Programme commonly known as Command Agriculture deserves special mention. You demonstrated that despite the odds, you have it in you to feed the nation," he said.

Dr Mombeshora said Command Agriculture was evidence that farmers could boost production if funded fully."Storage is now a big challenge in the country. We are not worried about the storage of maize at the moment but we have a wheat crop which is about to come; where are we going to put it when most of the silos will be full. We have to approach the private to see if they can assist with storage facilities.

"Storage facilities may also be a challenge next year considering that there is no drought and the State will not be feeding many people as we have been doing in the past years. Our silos will remain full when we harvest our next crop. So we are going to have a challenge of storage.

"I am sure Minister of Agriculture Mechanisation and Irrigation Development Dr Joseph Made is going to look into that issue to ensure we get more storage facilities for the grain that is going to come from farmers," he said.

The GMB has storage facilities to cater for four million tonnes of grain. GMB cylindrical silos have a capacity of 700 000 tonnes while hard stands can accommodate for 3, 3 million tonnes of grain. This year, Government expects four million tonnes of crops and the GMB is taking in maize, soyabeans and small grains.
- bh24

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