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Farirai Machivenyika and Elita Chikwati
The Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Lands, Agriculture and Irrigation Development will next week engage stakeholders and farmers in the tobacco industry to assess developments in the sector. Chairperson of the committee Cde Christopher Chitindi, who also represents Muzarabani South in the National Assembly, yesterday said they wanted to understand the challenges in the tobacco industry.

“Next week we will be meeting with the stakeholders in the tobacco sector and this includes the Tobacco Industry Marketing Board as the regulator, the contractors, the auctioneers and farmers,” he said.

“We want to get first hand information on developments in the sector, including the challenges they may be facing.”

Cde Chitindi said that they would tour tobacco growing regions to engage the farmers.

Tobacco is one of the country’s major foreign currency earners, with a harvest of at least 200 million kilogrammes expected this year.

At least 134 million kgs have been sold at the auction floors since the selling season started a few months ago. Tobacco farmers have been complaining of challenges in accessing their money after selling their crop and at one point staged a demonstration at one of the auction floors after failing to access their cash from banks.

The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, Tobacco Industry Marketing Board and the Zimbabwe Tobacco Association announced in a tripartite statement at the onset of the marketing season that farmers would be able to withdraw $1 000 for their initial sale, and $500 in subsequent sales.

Farmers are complaining that banks are taking long to give them cash, forcing them to camp at the floors for several days. They are also complaining that financial institutions are taking long to credit their bank accounts when they sell their tobacco.

Some stakeholders in the industry said farmers preferred buying from the informal sector and some of the dealers did not have point of sale machines.

Burma Valley farmer Mrs Luciah Dhlandhlara said their situation was unbearable.

“Why do we have to suffer when we produce a crop that is bringing in foreign currency,” she said. “It is not decent to sleep at the auction floors, especially now when the floors are overcrowded.

“If we had an auction floor nearer to our farming areas we could go back home and come for our money the next day without having to put up at the auction floors.”

Some experts in the tobacco industry complained that TIMB was taking long to decentralise auction floors and this was contributing to congestion at the floors.

The experts said while it was expensive to decentralise, there could be set dates for tobacco sales for every province and this would decongest floors, boost investment in farming areas and also improve service delivery at the floors.

TIMB communications manager, Mr Isheunesu Moyo, said the board was identifying concentrations by districts, as well as operations by contractors in the districts to determine suitable sites and infrastructure required.

TIMB licensed Karoi and Mvurwi Mashonaland Tobacco Company floors for farmers to sell their crop nearer to their farms.