Tobacco e-auction on the cards: TIMB

16 Sep, 2016 - 00:09 0 Views

The ManicaPost

Lovemore Kadzura : Rusape Correspondent

THE Tobacco Industry Marketing Board will next season introduce the foolproof e-auction and e-marketing of flue-cured tobacco as a way of stamping out chronic corruption and collusion by buyers at auction floors.

TIMB chairperson Mrs Monica Chinamasa said her organisation was working flat out to safe guard the interests of tobacco growers by ensuring that the tobacco auction system is stable, viable, efficient and incorruptible.

Mrs Chinamasa made the remarks as she officially opened the Makoni Agriculture Show that was held at Vengere Stadium last week.

The event hardly met the expectation of exhibitors as few farmers attended.

Sentiment by Mrs Chinamasa comes at a time when most tobacco growers are feeling cheated as the current auction system is controlled by buyers leaving them vulnerable and voiceless.

This has seen farmers accusing TIMB of siding with buyers than tobacco growers.

A significant number of farmers have been faced with the “good crop and poor price” dilemma that forced them out of the farming business.

Farmers said the ever nose-diving price regime impacted them negatively, and drowned them in serious debts. On the other hand, banks and contractors demand their loans back leaving growers in a quandary that forced some of them to sell their valuables to cover the ballooning debts.

Farmers also accuse tobacco buyers of fleecing them by devising a two-tier procurement regime in which the gold leaf from non-contracted farmers fetches the least prices when compared to their contracted counterparts.

Mrs Chinamasa said tobacco farmers play a prominent role in the economy as they inject fresh money into circulation hence should be protected by TIMB from possible exploitation.

“TIMB is committed to increasing the efficiency and transparency of the tobacco marketing system and will be carrying out electronic marketing dummy runs this coming marketing season. A major concern for tobacco farmers and TIMB is the declining viability of tobacco cultivation.

“TIMB is also committed to the welfare of farmers and will continue to do its best to improve productivity and quality of tobacco and assure a stable, predictable pricing and purchasing pattern that ensures viability of growers in the long run.

“The industry has also seen a proliferation of corruption and illegal activities at the selling points. Ultimately, the most effective way for stamping out corruption is for all stakeholders to work together for a common cause,” said Mrs Chinamasa.

Mrs Chinamasa also urged tobacco farmers to intensify production of the golden leaf which is one of the major foreign currency earners.

She, however, warned that tobacco should be grown in a sustainable manner.

Tobacco farming is synonymous with serious environmental damage amid reports that thousands of hectares of forest are cut down each                 year.

Wood is used to cure tobacco leaves and Mrs Chinamasa warned farmers against wiping the indigenous forests in search of fuel wood to cure the golden leaf.

Substantial amounts of indigenous trees like Mutondo, Mupfuti, Musasa and Muunze trees which have become endangered species are preferred wood-fuel because they are cheap and readily available in the communities, ignoring the ecological consequences.

Curing is the process in which tobacco is hung in barns and wood fires are used to heat the air and dry the leaves, in a process that gives it that golden outlook and smoky flavour.

“Tobacco is our major foreign currency earner, and as such, we should be promoting its intensive production in a sustainable manner, while conserving our beautiful indigenous trees. The industry will be launching an afforestation programme once funding has been released from the Afforestation Levy Fund. Nonetheless, I urge all tobacco farmers, and indeed everybody, to use whatever resources they can afford to plant trees,” said Mrs Chinamasa.

Farmers must resort to other sources of fuel like coal, electricity or plantation wood-fuel that do not sponsor land degradation and deforestation in their respective communities.

Environmentalists are urging farmers to join the Hwange Colliery Company programme on the use of coal in curing the golden leaf to assist in the conservation of indigenous trees, which are under threat from massive deforestation, in their areas.

Under the programme initiated by the coal mining giant, farmers benefit from coal availed by rural district councils at subsidised prices to ensure viability.

Apart from conserving the forests, coal cured tobacco has a good quality compared to the crop cured using firewood.

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