TIMB to introduce e-marketing

Livingstone Marufu
THE Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board will this season introduce a digital electronic counting system to bring sanity to the tobacco auction floors.
Dubbed E-marketing, the electronic system will ensure tobacco buyers receive real time data as the auction process unfolds and will therefore be able to tally bales when they reach the dispatch section of the sales floor.
The auction floors open mid-March.
Mr Ishemunyoro Moyo, the TIMB public relations manager, said: “We are rolling out an electronic marketing system this season which will curb underhand dealings at auction floors. The new system will speed up all the processes involved in the marketing of tobacco- from booking, auctioning and bidding.”
According to Mr Moyo, an electronic hand-held device will co-ordinate proceedings and there will be no need for individuals to be in charge of proceedings.
The system, which was developed in India, will also determine winning bids.
Individual farmers’ details will be electronically tagged on their bales, therefore reducing side-marketing, illegal sales and theft.
The processing time for payments will be greatly reduced and ticket tampering will be avoided.
Malawi has adopted this system.
In Zimbabwe, more than 70 percent of the tobacco crop is sold through the auction system.
The country’s major tobacco auction floors, among them Tobacco Sales Floor, Boka Tobacco Auction Floors and Premier Tobacco Auction, will use the new system.
The Agriculture Ministry and TIMB are currently assessing the crop size for this year.
Tobacco industry players have projected output ranging between 170 and 180 million kilogrammes.
The number of registered tobacco farmers has, however, gone down by 21 percent from 89 012 registered tobacco growers last year to 70 531 this year. Of the registered growers, 9 057 are new entries.
Last year, Zimbabwe produced about 200 million kg from 93 419 hectares.
Mr Moyo said, “We are currently conducting a final crop assessment exercise to see where we are in terms of the 2016 tobacco crop. As you might be aware, we had a late start to the season and this affected the whole production process.”
Mr Paul Zakaria, the Zimbabwe Farmers Union director, said the new system was good for farmers as it guarded against illegal dealings.
“This is a positive development since our farmers are now being protected from unscrupulous auction workers and buyers. The number of tobacco farmers will surely increase next season,” added Mr Zakaria.
Industry experts say reduced output could result in better prices for the golden leaf.
The director of the Tobacco Industry Development Institute Mr Jeffrey Takawira said: “We believe that this selling season will be devoid of price demonstrations and unscrupulous dealings.”
The effects of El-Nino, which has seen Brazil, the world’s biggest tobacco producer being hit by floods, will likely result in the price of tobacco firming.