Zimbabwe: Tobacco Sales - New Date Set

Source from:  The Herald (Harare) 23 April 2008 04/24/2008

The 2008 flue-cured tobacco selling season got off to a false start yesterday for the third year running after problems that affected the previous two seasons came back to haunt this year's opening session. Most tobacco farmers who had gathered at the Tobacco Sales Floors as early as 7am for the official opening left around midday a disappointed lot after the Tobacco Industry Marketing Board chairman, Mr Njodzi Machirori, announced that the official opening had been deferred to next Tuesday. The TIMB chairman said the one-week postponement had been necessitated by the need to give authorities time to attend to sticking issues such as a new support price. Tobacco farmers were also asking for a new exchange rate as well as the settlement of the outstanding Foreign Currency Account settlements. Mr Machirori, his team and the Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Mr David Chapfika, who were at the floors in the morning, held a meeting before leaving the floors to consult the Minister of Agriculture on the way forward. On his return around midday, Mr Machirori, who was flanked by his fellow board members and farmer associations leaders, told farmers that they had been assured that the issue was being looked into and that a position would be communicated once everything had been sorted out. "We had hoped that by now we would have had a position on the support price, but this has not happened. "We have, however, been assured by the powers-that-be that they are still trying to come up with a viable price for the industry," he said. Mr Machirori added that arrangements had been made for authorities at the country's three auction floors to secure the delivered tobacco until Tuesday next week. The Zimbabwe Indigenous Commercial Farmers' Union president, Mr Wilson Nyabonda, and Tobacco Growers' Trust president, Mr Wilfanos Mashingaidze, said in separate interviews that the ball was in Government's court as they had submitted their expectations in March as was the norm every year. The two, however, declined to discuss the finer details of their proposals saying it could prejudice negotiations. Mr Mashingaidze said the postponement of the selling season should not be a cause of anguish for farmers as it was being done for their benefit. He said the delay by authorities to come up with a position was understandable given that there were also issues of equal importance competing for their attention. However, the farmers who had come for the official opening, most of them small-scale farmers, felt hard done by the announcement and had no kind words for the TIMB. "Why is it that we never learn from our previous mistakes? This is the third year running and we are getting the same situation repeating itself over and over again. "Tobacco is one of the country's cash cows yet there is no seriousness that is attached to this sector when it comes to the selling season. "How then can we move forward as a country especially given that we are short of foreign currency?" said one farmer. Another said the date for the official opening of the season should only have been confirmed after everything was in place. "What has happened here is tantamount to announcing a wedding date when you have not even looked for a wife. "What the authorities should address is who will compensate us for the money that we are wasting on these trips back and forth. "The authorities (TIMB) should be more considerate and take into account that some of us have to borrow money on the strength that we will return it once we have sold our crop," he said. Some farmers said they were happy with the system of payment in place although there was need to make some adjustment to the exchange rate and the support price in order to match inflation. The official opening of the selling season last year was postponed indefinitely after farmers indicated that they were not ready to sell their tobacco until they got a special exchange rate arguing that the exchange rate of US$1 to $250 applying then, was not viable. The exchange rate was subsequently moved to US$1 to $30 000 which the farmers insisted was not enough. It took the effort of two ministers and the Reserve Bank Governor Dr Gideon Gono, the then acting Minister of Finance, Mr Patrick Chinamasa, and the Minister of Agriculture, Mr Rugare Gumbo, to persuade the farmers to deliver their crop. The impasse was resolved after Government announced a support price for the farmers and that they would also retain 20 percent of their foreign currency. Government initially pegged its support price at $40 000 per kg, calculated on a pro rata basis benchmarked at US$1,50 per kg, which was subsequently increased to $55 000 per kg towards the end of the season. About 75 million to 80 million kilogrammes of flue-cured tobacco are expected to be delivered to the tobacco auction floors this season compared to 73 million kg last year. Enditem