Grain Marketing Board

The GMB is a wholly state owned enterprise with network depots. Grain Marketing Board (GMB) was established in 1931 as the Maize Control Board.
The GMB is in the business of commodity trading in cereals and oil seeds, the provision of logistic services to the agricultural industry as well as processing of products. Its main objective is to ensure national food security through production, procurement and management of SGR and to transform the organisation into a commercially viable entity.
GMB has been modified from being fundamentally a developmental or social institution to include being a commercially oriented commodity trading organisation.This led to introduction of SILO brand of products.

Functions of the board

• To ensure the orderly marketing of controlled agricultural products
• To buy and sell any controlled product which is delivered to or acquired by it
• To buy and sell non-controlled grains and oil seeds
• To provide storage, handling and processing facilities
• Import and export agricultural products as it may consider necessary
• To provide fumigation, product quality control services and commercial training in grain handling
• To process and package rice, groundnuts, sugar beans, coffee, nyimo and pop corn at some of its depots
• To establish more depots so as to stimulate agricultural products, particularly in the production of small grains.To provide proximity to our stakeholders through establishment
• To maintain strategic Grain Reserves for Government in line with Government policy

GMB is currently trading in all the grains produced in the country as it is the buyer of last resort. In addition, GMB has taken a leading role in support of the agrarian reform by supporting farmers to grow cash crops such as:

• Soyabeans
• Sunflower
• Sugarbeans
• Sorghum
• Millet and many more through its agricultural inputs scheme.