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Edgar Vhera Agriculture Specialist Writer
THE Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board’s (TIMB) ongoing blitz to eradicate the problem of side-marketing has left 37 000 growers deregistered after they registered to grow the crop but never delivered it to either auction or contract floors.
TIMB public affairs officer Mrs Chelesani Tsarwe revealed this when she announced TIMB’s state of preparedness for the 2022/23 tobacco production and marketing season statement recently.
“The TIMB has deregistered over 37 000 growers who registered and subsequently grew tobacco in the previous seasons but did not deliver any of the tobacco to the auction and contract selling points. There is therefore strong suspicion of these growers engaging in side-marketing activities,” said Mrs Tsarwe.
Registration of all types of tobacco growers remains one among the many functions of TIMB as spelt out in the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Act [Chapter 18:20].
Active growers are those who delivered tobacco at various selling points.
In the 2020/21 season active growers were 120 467 out of 155 097 total registered growers representing 78 percent. In the 2019/20 season, 122 367 out of 166 959 registered growers were active, which represented 73 percent.
The deregistration of the growers was subsequently triggered by the operationalisation of the new compliance administration framework that TIMB has put in place to ensure orderliness in the 2022/23 season as well as address challenges besetting the tobacco sector.
“TIMB has put in place a compliance administration framework, which seeks to ensure that emerging challenges around dual production and marketing systems are effectively addressed. It also provides for a minimum package of inputs that should be provided by all tobacco contractors,” continued Mrs Tsarwe.
The compliance administration framework is still internal and will be shared to all players upon commissioning.
Tobacco Association of Zimbabwe (TAZ) president Mr George Seremwe concurred saying they had engagements with other stakeholders as regards the issue of inactive growers whose numbers have been increasing over time.
“We had meetings with TIMB and agreed that there was need to bring sanity in the tobacco industry, as some grower numbers might have been used as surrogates by individuals/companies to evade the system. So, the deregistration of inactive growers is a good move. If the affected farmers are true tobacco growers, they can reapply to TIMB.
“If tobacco farmer associations know the grower, they can offer recommendation letters supportive of the grower’s application. It has been noted that over the past two seasons accessing grower’s numbers had become easy. It is now time to thoroughly scrutinise applications,” said Mr Seremwe.
On the contrary Zimbabwe National Farmers Union (ZNFU) president Mrs Monica Chinamasa is of the view that the grower deregistration exercise was too harsh and would destroy the tobacco industry if not accompanied by a thorough analysis of the grower’s circumstances.
“There was need for TIMB to reach out to the affected growers first to establish their circumstances, as many of them do not have resources. Many small-scale farmers have no fall-back position if they are not given assistance,” said Mrs Chinamasa.
The Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development together with TIMB have put in place stringent measures to promote orderly marketing plus sustainable and viable tobacco production for the 2022/23 agriculture season.
In a related matter, TIMB has disclosed that the planted area under irrigated tobacco for the 2022/23 tobacco season has surpassed last season’s.
“Over 4 000 hectares of early irrigated tobacco have so far been planted, a hectarage higher than that established during the same period last year,” revealed Mrs Tsarwe.
There has been a 32 percent increase in grower registrations for the 2022/23 season compared to the same registration period last year.
“A total of 106 067 growers have registered to grow tobacco in the 2022/23 season while 80 069 had registered during the same period last year,” pointed out Mrs Tsarwe.
Online Reporter