Zimbabwe: Tobacco Farmers Allege Abuse By Bigwigs At Auction Floors

Source from:  The Herald 04/06/2011

Tobacco farmers yesterday accused senior Government officials and members of the uniformed forces of engaging in corrupt activities that have contributed to congestion at auction floors in Harare. The farmers said this during a tour of the floors by the House of Assembly Portfolio Committee on Agriculture, Water, Lands and Resettlement. "The major problem we are having is because of these senior officials and soldiers who come and jump the queue. "We have been left powerless because some even make threats if we try to raise objections. "It is painful that we are spending days here while others just come for a few hours and get served," Mr Trymore Matowe from Bindura said. Mr Raisi Changambika from Headlands added: "Some are even getting kickbacks to ensure that their friends do not follow the queue. "I have been here for five days and I do not even know when I am going to sell my tobacco." Tobacco Sales Floor managing director Mr James Mutambanesango confirmed they had problems with high-ranking Government officials who demanded preferential treatment. "It is happening and even if we try to curb the situation we sometimes receive unspecified threats and at the end of the day we have very little choice but to serve them," he said. There are fears of a disease outbreak at the auction floors because of congestion that has seen farmers staying for days on end to sell their crop. Mr Mutambanesango said, "All tobacco farmers must be registered as growers and before they bring their tobacco to the floors they must submit estimates of quantities they are expecting to supply. "However, most of the farmers do not abide by these requirements and they just bring their tobacco expecting it to be sold. "Most of them do not have growers' numbers that are required to sell the tobacco." Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board chief executive officer, Dr Andrew Matibiri, attributed this to lack of education on the marketing requirements. "This year we have registered 16 000 new growers and in many areas Arex (extension) officers are not fully aware of tobacco marketing regulations because most of them are new to the field," he said. Dr Matibiri said most farmers did not subscribe to any farmer organisation making it difficult for them to access extension services. The Agriculture Committee's chairman, Mr Moses Jiri (MDC-T, Chikomba Central) condemned the failure to respect procedures. "It is disheartening that people are spending days here, we believe everyone has got to follow the queue, everyone must follow the procedures," he said. Farmers expect to sell more than 170 million kilogrammes of tobacco this year and 32 million have been sold so far. Enditem