As farmers begin harvesting grain with the close of the 2025/26 summer cropping season, it has emerged that the Grain Marketing Board is yet to fully settle payments for deliveries made during the previous 2024/25 harvest.
Speaking during a post-Cabinet media briefing on Tuesday, 28 April, Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Minister Zhemu Soda said the GMB has so far paid approximately 85 per cent of its obligations to farmers.
Soda also said the Cabinet considered and approved an update on the 2025/26 Summer Crops Marketing and the 2026 Winter Crop Production Plan, presented by Agriculture Minister Anxious Jongwe Masuka.
According to the report, as of 24 April 2026, the GMB had settled 88.26 per cent of its United States dollar obligations and 82.73 per cent of payments in Zimbabwe Gold (ZiG), leaving outstanding balances of US$4.3 million and ZiG61.8 million owed to farmers.
Cabinet noted that total cereal output for the 2025/26 summer season is projected at 2,740,272 metric tonnes, covering maize, sorghum, pearl millet and finger millet.
Meanwhile, grain stocks currently held by the GMB stand at 158,853 metric tonnes, comprising maize, traditional grains and wheat.
The government also outlined that the marketing framework for the season will encompass five categories of farmers: those under the Climate-Proofed Presidential Input Scheme (Pfumvudza/Intwasa), self-financed farmers, beneficiaries of the National Enhanced Agricultural Production Scheme supported by AFC and CBZ, farmers financed through private contractors, and those operating under the Agricultural and Rural Development Authority.
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