Agriculture Reporter

The Agricultural Marketing Authority (AMA) has transformed to become an innovative and effective partner for development of the agricultural sector.

In a Press Statement today, AMA said the transformation was market driven and underpinned by the adoption and use of digital technologies to address new challenges and better meet the evolving needs of farmers and other key stakeholders.

According to the Press Statement, AMA is now positioned to fully support the implementation of the Agricultural and Food Systems Transformation Strategy and National Development Strategy 1, towards attaining Vision 2030.

“As a catalyst for agriculture transformation, the authority is committed to fulfilling this role by being an honest arbiter, facilitator, enabler and a force multiplier to increase productivity, and profitability in the agricultural sector,” reads part of the statement.

AMA was set up by Government in 2004 primarily to promote agricultural production of strategic crops such as tobacco, cotton, sugarcane, soya beans, maize and barley.

AMA is currently in the process of raising ZWL$100 million through agro bills to provide affordable financing to farmers in horticulture and oil seeds, cotton seed, soya beans, groundnuts and Sesame production.

AMA also plans to raise ZW$20 billion through the agro-bills to finance the purchase of grain for the 2021 marketing season. The procurement is being done through the Grain Marketing Board (GMB).

AMA recently signed a memorandum of understanding with Knowledge Transfer Africa (KTA) that will eventually result in the development of marketing models for the local agricultural sector.

For a long time, small agricultural players in the country have had to rely on Mbare Musika to sell their products, which inflates costs due to transportation costs as well as challenges of dealing with middlemen.