Manicaland flue-cured tobacco farmers race against time

Senior Farming Reporter
THE Tobacco Industry Marketing Board (TIMB) has set July 15 as the final day for farmers to sell their flue-cured tobacco at auctions floors.

The announcement by TIMB saw some flue-cured tobacco farmers in Manicaland racing against time to beat the deadline to sell the remnant golden leaf as the country’s three auction floors are expected to close shop next Wednesday.

Three auction floors, Boka Tobacco Auction Floor, Tobacco Sales Floor Limited and Premier Tobacco Auction Floor were licenced to conduct auctions this year. Contractors operating in Manicaland include Northern Tobacco, BAT, Mashonaland Tobacco Company, Chidziwa and Tain-Ze Tobacco Company, among others. The local tobacco market continues being dominated by China.

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 2015 tobacco selling season started on March 4.

Traditionally, the season starts mid-February and ends around mid-August, but the 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 most farmers were still grading their tobacco.

Some farmers criticised the development as a deliberate tactic to coerce them to sell their crop at exploitative prices as they cannot sell it anywhere else once the auction floors close shop.

Deliveries this season on Day 85 were 181 037 022 worth $534 135 422.

By this time in 2014, golden leaf measuring 199 095 577kg and worth $632 792 325 had been sold.

TIMB said in a statement: “TIMB advises that the final day for the 2015 flue-cured tobacco auction sales is Wednesday 15, July 2015 with final deliveries being expected on Tuesday, 14, 2015.

“All growers selling through the auctions are advised to complete their grading and bailing operations before the final sales day.”

The Mashonaland Tobacco Company’s Rusape auction floor closed last week, much to the chagrin of hundreds of contract farmers who will have to foot extra transport costs to sell their crop at its main floors in Harare.

A week prior to the closure, farmers have been complaining about MTC’s poor capacity to handle huge deliveries due to storage and manpower shortages.

Many farmers were meant to endure torrid times in queues.

Tobacco Association of Zimbabwe president, Mr David Guy Mutasa, said some farmers in Manicaland would be caught flat-footed as they had finished harvesting their late planted crop less than a month ago.

The same farmers are still to clear their fields of tobacco stalks.

“I know of several farmers who are still reaping, while others have not started grading their crop for sale. You have to appreciate that the rains come late and farmers planted late,” said Mr Mutasa.

The auction floors used to record an average deliveries of 8 000 per day, but figures have dwindled to around 3 000 bales. He said the season was going on well and prices were close to where they were last season.

This comes as a number of farmers have been complaining of the low prices offered especially at the auction floors while merchants have been complaining of low quality crop. An estimated 14 000 farmers, accounting for around 32 000 hectares of tobacco in Manicaland, were earmarked to deliver their crop, expected to be in the region of 20 million kilogrammes at the Rusape auction floors.

In 2013 the MTC floors transacted 13 million kilograms and had set the 2014 target at 20 million kilograms.

It is understood that MTC jumped the gun after hitting its target, largely attributed to side marketing.

Most non-contract farmers were selling their crop at the auction floor either through a conduit of contracted farmers or with the connivance of unscrupulous auction floor officials.

TIMB also came under fire for failing to protect farmers against unfair practices by tobacco buyers through its connivance in setting unviable price benchmarks.

Farmers also queried why TIMB was allowing tobacco buyers to come up with different prices for classified golden leaf.