Sesame seed farmers in Chipinge have turned to the Mozambican market after failing to secure local buyers for their crop amid concerns that middlemen are taking advantage of the absence of formal market to underpay them. Sesame seeds are used for the production of vegetable cooking oil and also the making of bread.Chipinge farmers who have of late shifted to sesame from cotton are worried that they no-longer have rewarding cash crops, something that could plunge them into deepening poverty levels.
Their plight has been worsened by the fact that Grain Marketing Board is allegedly snubbing the crop leaving them without an option but to turn to the Mozambican market. One of the sesame farmers in Manzvire area, Miriam Mariyacha said she ventured into sesame farming following a spate of poor cotton yields coupled with low selling price.
Mariyacha said she was hoping that her fortunes would change with sesame but is regretting the decision as she found herself stuck with bags of the crop in her house without buyers.“Farmers from other areas told us that sesame pays far much better than cotton but it seems the decision to snub cotton is now backfiring on us.“A few buyers who come here looking for sesame are middlemen who pay us 80 cents per kilogram and we feel robbed because our understanding is that they then sell it at double the price in Mozambique where it is on high demand,” Mariyacha said.
Another farmer Oyster Mtetwa from Madhuku village said the absence of local market had subjected them to middlemen who rip them off. “We shifted from cotton to sesame on the pretext that we would make more money but the issue of buyers is our biggest let down as we are now made to sell our produce at ludicrous prices,” Mtetwa said. Village head Luckson Mangiza Madhuku weighed in saying he was disappointed that the government was not acting to secure a local market for the crop.
“People had expectations for higher price for sesame but the absence of an official and formal market is likely going to affect production next season as farmers will not want to undergo the same problem that they are facing right now. “The government should just chip in and secure a market for the crop because as far as we see it, farmers have shown great interest to venture into full time sesame production and absence of a fair market will discourage them next year,” he said.
Chipinge South Member of Parliament, Enock Porusingazi confirmed that sesame farmers in his constituency were turning to Mozambican buyers who are reportedly buying for 2 dollars per kilogram. Asked if there are plans to secure local market for the crop, Porusingazi urged farmers to gather their crops together and know the tonnage for easy negotiation with local confectioners who in most cases buy the crop.
“They should gather their produce together and once we know the quantities, it will be easy to negotiate with buyers,” said Porusingazi. Efforts to get a comment from GMB were fruitless as their phone went unanswered.
By Thomas Madhuku
