TIMB reforms pay off as prices firm

Sunday Mail Reporter

REFORMS being implemented by the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB) are bearing fruit, with farmers getting better prices while surrogate contractors are being eliminated since the marketing season commenced last month.

The tobacco board introduced stiffer penalties last year for side marketing, resulting in more farmers participating in the auction floor sales, skirting surrogates and dubious merchants.

Side marketing is a form of contract default in which a farmer agrees to grow for one buyer but sells to another.

When this happens, the contracting merchants not only lose their tobacco but also the agricultural inputs provided to the farmer.

TIMB acting chief executive Mr Emmanuel Matsvaire said they have come up with a compliance administration framework to ensure sanity, transparency and efficiency, thereby curb side marketing.

“The following is what TIMB did: de-contracting of partly contracted farmers; suspension of some unscrupulous surrogate companies. Licences were not renewed for some undisciplined stakeholders.

“We are also implementing tight monitoring of sales floors to ensure adherence to the compliance framework,” he said.

Mr Matsvaire said TIMB is instituting reforms that will benefit farmers.

“We have made several reforms this season such as inscription of stop order forms so that they are not manipulated, as was the case last year.

“Our booking system has also been revamped and this has seen farmers being paid on time, even earlier than the 48-hour time limit after delivery.”

To date, the average price of tobacco has been about US$3 per kilogramme (kg).

“This is seven percent higher than last year and the higher price augurs well for farmers as we are anticipating a bumper tobacco harvest this season,” said Mr Matsvaire.

The new reforms at TIMB have seen changes in volume, with more farmers participating at auction floors.

A schedule provided by the TIMB shows that auction floors received 3 362 712kg of the yellow leaf as of last week, an increase of 46 percent from the 2 306 492kg by the same period in 2022.

On the contrary, surrogates lost at least 1 955 511kg, registering a -34 percent loss from the 5 797 693kg gained in 2022.

Merchants were also at minus six percent loss from at least 23 million kg in 2022, down to 21 million kg during the same period in 2023.

Overall, there has been a minus 8 percent decrease in side marketing from 31 303 715kg in 2022 to at least 29 942 449kg in 2023.

Zimbabwe Tobacco Growers Association secretary-general Mr Mutandwa Mutasa commended TIMB for instituting reforms at the auction floors.

“We are seeing a lot of positives and, generally, this marketing season so far has been better than last season.

“For the first time, we have witnessed suspension of licences of those who violated the procedures. Prices are better compared to last season and farmers are smiling all the way to the bank, which is good to see.”

Mr Mutasa, however, noted that one company (name supplied) is still involved in shenanigans at the floors.

“We are, however, worried that there is a company (name supplied) that is paying farmers with cash but is not appearing on the TIMB charts. We are surprised with how they are moving with the cash yet they have farmers they did not pay last year.”

Both surrogates and merchants have been the main culprits of disorderly marketing through side marketing and fictitious contracting.

Tobacco is the country’s second biggest earner of foreign currency after gold.

In previous seasons, the tobacco marketing season has been marred by syndicates involved in unfair trading practices that short-changed the farmer.

This saw the actual number of farmers who were under contract being inflated by surrogate contractors that manipulate the figures.

Tobacco marketing experts expressed confidence that the deep-seated reforms by the tobacco regulatory board will give impetus to efforts by Government to transform the tobacco industry into a US$5 billion sector by 2025.