The ManicaPost
Samuel Kadungure : Farming Reporter
THE curtain has finally come down on the tobacco selling season after the regulatory authority fixed today (Friday) as the final day for growers to sell their leaf at auction floors.As the Tobacco Industry Marketing Board (TIMB) sets today’s deadline about 191 million kilograms of flue-cured tobacco worth over $561 million had been auctioned at the country’s auction floors by early this week.
The announcement by TIMB saw some tobacco growers racing against time to beat the deadline to sell the remaining leaf as the country’s three auction floors are expected to close shop today.
Three auction floors — Boka Tobacco Auction Floor, Tobacco Sales Floor Limited and Premier Tobacco Auction Floor — were licensed to conduct auctions this year.
Some contractors operating in Manicaland include Northern Tobacco, BAT, Mashonaland Tobacco Company, Chidziwa and Tain-Ze Tobacco Company, among others were also contracted.
Buyers from China and South Africa continue to dominate the market. Those selling under contract will not be affected by the TIMB directive with reports that some will wind up operations at the end of August. The 2016 tobacco selling season started on March 30.
Traditionally, the season starts mid-February and ends around mid-August, but TIMB was forced to defer it.
The delays were ignited by the late arrival of rains, late planting and harvesting by farmers.
However, the TIMB announcement will put a lot of farmers in a catch 22 situation amid reports that many farmers were still grading tobacco.
Some farmers criticised the development as a deliberate tactic to coerce them to sell their crop cheaply as they cannot sell it anywhere else once the auction floors close shop but disease prevention requires clear fields throughout the country.
TIMB spokesperson, Mr Isheunesu Moyo, said: “TIMB advises that the final day for the 2016 flue-cured tobacco auction sales is Friday, August 5, 2016, with final deliveries being expected on Thursday (yesterday), August 4, 2016. “All growers selling through the auctions are advised to complete their grading and bailing operations before the final sales day.”
Mr Moyo said the auctions would open for mop-up sales on August 23, 2016. The 2016 tobacco selling season was eventful after Government directed that payments be made directly into bank accounts.
The directive initially drew mixed reactions among small-scale farmers – most of whom were unbanked – who wanted the process to be implemented in phases.
The changes were part of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe financial inclusion and aimed at improving liquidity.
RBZ is advocating for a cashless economy where spending should largely be through banks than pockets. This also allowed farmers to develop a financial track record against which they borrow from banks.
The tobacco sector, which is the major foreign currency earner, eventually responded to dictates of cashless society which practised world over where even rural farmers transact through bank debit cards and ICTs such as cell-phones.
Small-scale farmers in Zimbabwe have over the years been accustomed to getting cheques or cash at auction floors, a development that often resulted in some falling victims to thieves and impulsive buying.
Mr Moyo, however, expressed fears that quality of the next season’s crop may be compromised by disease and pests as farmers drag their feet to destroy tobacco stalks.
According to the Plant Pests and Diseases Act (Chapter 19: 08) which prescribes ways to sustainably grow high quality tobacco, stalks should have been done by May 15. Those who fail to destroy tobacco stalks should be reported to Department of Research and Specialist Services (Plant Quarantine Services Institute), Agritex, Tobacco Research Board (TRB) or TIMB.
He noted that there has been an increase in a variety of pests owing to failure by farmers to destroy tobacco stalks by May 15.
The major reason for poor crop residue destruction is poor supervision and monitoring by TIMB.
The fines are not deterrent. A first offender is fined $100 per hectare, while repeated one risks a fine of imprisonment and $200 fine.
In the past, the problem was perceived as the farmers’ lack of understanding and appreciation of the reasons for destroying crop residues.
