GMB Sets Winter Wheat Price At US$524 A Tonne For 2026 Season

The government has set the producer price for wheat at $524.56 per metric tonne for the 2026 winter season, the Grain Marketing Board (GMB) has announced.

GMB chief executive officer Edson Badarai said the “incentive producer planning and pre-planning price” was approved following “extensive consultations with stakeholders”.

The price, set in US dollars, is intended to guide farmers ahead of the winter wheat planting season.

Zimbabwe has in recent years sought to boost local wheat production to reduce reliance on imports and strengthen food security.

Wheat is one of Zimbabwe’s strategic crops, with winter production concentrated under irrigation. The country has targeted self-sufficiency in wheat since 2022, when local output rose sharply after a renewed push for import substitution.

The GMB, which falls under the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development, is the buyer of last resort for grain and administers producer prices.

However, the GMB has gained a reputation for late payment to farmers, a practice that has disrupted planting and other farming activities.

Paul Zakariya, secretary general of the Zimbabwe Farmers Union, and Monica Chinamasa, president of the Zimbabwe National Farmers Union, have repeatedly called on the GMB to settle accounts within the stipulated period to allow growers to “break even”.

Agricultural economist Reneth Mano said the Treasury “has been habitually defaulting on farmer payments” for grain delivered to the board, adding that the delays had “damaged the GMB’s once stellar reputation”.

He said that payments for grain delivered in October and November 2025 were only disbursed around March 2026.

Farmers say the hold-ups leave them incurring bank interest and struggling to finance the next planting season.