adminHarare Bureau
TOBACCO growers have earned a collective $19 million from the sale of 6,8 million kilogrammes of flue-cured tobacco as prices remain depressed.
This is a decline from the $23 million farmers pocketed over the same period last year from the sale of 7 million kg of tobacco.Farmers have complained about the low prices while experts blame the situation on the poor quality of the crop delivered to auction floors countrywide thus far.
The Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board statistics show that to date, 3,2 million kg of tobacco have been sold through the auction sales, while 3,5 million kg have gone through contract sales.
Tobacco Industry Marketing Board chief executive Dr Andrew Matibiri said the selling season was going well although there had been problems regarding pricing and rejection of bales.
He said auction floors stopped sales at some point as farmers boycotted low prices and rejection of bales for defects such as mixed grades and moulds.
“We have had to explain to farmers on the reasons for the rejection of the bales and also the price issue. The quality that is coming to the auction floors is not good and this can be due to the effects of the heavy rains,” he said.
Tobacco was also affected by the late onset of the rainy season and Dr Matibiri said nearly 60 percent of the crop was still on farms.
Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers Union president Wonder Chabikwa said some farmers still lacked knowledge on curing and preparation of tobacco for marketing.
“The prices are low this season and some farmers are still to learn the correct agronomic practices of processing their crop to attain the required flavour for the market,” he said.
Zimbabwe expects 180 million kg of flue-cured tobacco this season.
Online Reporter