LIVINGSTONE MARUFU
Zimbabwe’s largest financial services group, CBZ Holdings has mobilised 33 000 tonnes of fertiliser to be distributed to farmers across the country under the Command Agriculture programme for the 2021/2022 summer cropping season, it has been learnt.
Zimbabwe requires about 50 000 tonnes of fertiliser for both top dressing and basal fertiliser a year.
Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Resettlement Minister, Anxious Masuka, said farmers will acquire the fertiliser under the CBZ Agro-Yield / Command Agriculture. CBZ Agro-Yield is a unit of the Zimbabwe Stock-exchange listed financial services group.
“On CBZ Agro-Yield/Command Agriculture Programme preparations for the 2021/2022 summer cropping season, the nation is advised that currently CBZ Agro-Yield has 18 000 metric tonnes and 15 000 metric tonnes of basal and top dressing fertilisers, respectively,” Masuka said.
He said seed was adequately available from all seed houses and was ready for collection from SeedCo andK2 and CBZ is in the process of finalising input supply agreements with ARDA Seeds, Syngenta and Torcek.
Masuka said herbicides, pest control chemicals; diesel and tillage contractors are ready for disbursement.
Last year, the government changed Command Agriculture funding mechanisms and gave banks the mandate to start funding the programme.
AFC, Stanbic and Women’s Bank were some of the banks that are supporting CBZ to fund the import substitution programme.
Given the lack of visibility and proper implementation various farmers prefer CBZ ahead of other financial institutions.
Resultantly, CBZ introduced the Agro-Yield division which is an agricultural finance initiative meant to curb ever-growing import bills.
Agro-Yield was mainly a partnership between the CBZ and the government on maize and soyabean growing but the programme has expanded to other programmes.
The tenure of loans is 270 days at an interest rate of 10.5% per annum and an upfront fee of 2.25%.Those with irrigation facilities were prioritised as they are guaranteed of a successful season.
The programme is backed by the government who pays the bank in case the farmer was not able to repay the loan on time.
But given the calibre of the farmers chosen and vetting processes, the programme was a high success last summer cropping season and the bank managed to recoup its money.
Agriculture experts suggested that the programme is highly discriminatory and the government should intervene to allow some good farmers without collateral and irrigation facilities to participate.
In its update for the quarter to March 31,2021, CBZ’s profit rose 55% to ZWL$1.65bn from ZWL$1.064bn recorded during the same period last year due to high quality digital investments.
It emerged that all the group’s regulated subsidiaries were well capitalised and directors expect their banking subsidiaries to be compliant with the minimum revised requirements by December 21 2021.
Despite the negative impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, the CBZ said the pandemic will not have an inhibiting impact on its ability to continue operating as a going concern.
CBZ will continue leveraging on its strong capital and balance sheet positions, deep understanding of the local markets, and extensive investment in digital platforms to ensure sustainable growth of the business.
In the outlook, the country’s economic prospects continue to improve with key fundamentals pointing towards sustained recovery.
CBZ will continue to increase visibility in its financial intermediation role within the economy while enhancing shareholder value in the process, it said.
