Sowing Africa’s Food Sovereignty: Inside Zimbabwe’s Plan to Shield Its Farmers & Stabilize Prices

We are there to ensure that we improve the handling of commodities after harvest, so that we reduce post-harvest losses that are estimated at around 30% if farmers do not employ good storage methods. So based on that, ZMX [ Zimbabwe Mercantile Exchange] introduced the warehouse receipt system so that we certify warehouses and ensure commodities are graded and stored in a professional manner. We then issue warehouse receipts that are then used by the farmers to trade their produce. Now what it does is to address a number of issues, address the post-harvest issues, address the grading standards issues, and then address the market access problems that farmers are used to have. Then ensure that agricultural farming is a viable business and once it becomes viable, productivity increases if people feel they are going to be paid fairly and that then contributes to food security [...] We come in to benefit both the buyers and sellers,” Tapfumaneyi explained.

ZMX, alongside 16 other commodity exchanges across Africa, came together under the auspices of the AfCFTA, and we formed an AfCFTA Association of Commodity Exchanges from Africa. The vision is to use the linkages and the connection of the various commodity exchanges across the continent to facilitate intra-continental trading. This association is now very active, and I'm pleased to say ZMX is actually the chair [....] the ZMX signed with the Zambia Commodity Exchange (ZAMES), the Malawi Commodity Exchange and the Tanzanian commodity exchange. The four of us, we put together an MOU to facilitate trading of commodities across those four countries. Further to that, we are almost ready to sign with the Lagos Commodities Exchange, a similar arrangement. And only a few weeks ago, we were hosting a team from Angola for the purposes of having such a bilateral arrangement,” the official noted.