The cabinet approved a new wheat producer selling price of $630 per metric tonne for the 2018-2019 marketing season according to the Minister of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services, Monica Mutsvangwa at a press conference yesterday.
The new price marks another increase in wheat which has been costing $415 by September this year.
“The approved wheat producers price takes into consideration the need to boost production, and thereby improving food security in our country,” Mutsvangwa said to journalists after a cabinet meeting in Harare.
Wheat production in Zimbabwe, this year plunged to 123 000 metric tonnes from nearly 160 000 metric tonnes last year.
Besides approving a new price, the cabinet also agreed on measures to boost local wheat production in Zimbabwe.
The meausres include instituting an appropriate scheme to encourage farmers to venture into wheat production.
The cabinet also agreed that a program is to be undertaken to systematically address the high costs of locally produced fertilizers and other inputs so as to render local products more competitive.
Another measure agreed was that grain millers and bakers be facilitated to venture into wheat production on their specific needs.
Zimbabwe has been importing wheat from Western countries after its continued failure to produce the amount consumed in the nation.
The Southern African country requires 400 thousand tonnes of wheat for consumption.