Zimbabwe: Businesspeople Urged to Open Tobacco Floors

Source from:  The Herald 04/29/2011

GOVERNMENT has challenged businesspeople to take advantage of opportunities in the local and global tobacco markets and apply for licences to open more floors in Harare. Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development Minister Joseph Made on Tuesday said tobacco production was expected to eclipse the traditional 240m/kg per year next season as more farmers were turning to the crop owing to its lucrative prices. "Tobacco has become the anchor crop of the economy so we need at least 10 more floors to allow farmers to get prompt services and avoid losses from unforeseeable disasters such as rains and even theft en route to the floors," he said. Last weekend, some farmers had their tobacco drenched by rains while waiting to be served at the Tobacco Sales Floor after management stopped operations for the Easter holidays. "The TIMB has the responsibility to advise farmers when an auction floor will be closed or opened. "They are a public institution that is there for a public good, which is the farmers, so they should be there to assist them through and through. "TSF also should have adopted a business approach and advised farmers of the impending holiday shutdown so that they would have made the necessary arrangements over the safe keeping of their produce," Minister Made said. TIMB chief executive, Dr Andrew Matibiri, said he had advised all the country's auction floors three days before the holidays to alert farmers over the temporary shutdown. "We sent a circular to all the floors instructing them to tell the farmers to take the necessary precautions on the storage of their tobacco as they went for the holidays," he said. Dr Matibiri said the cost of the damaged tobacco was yet to be quantified and TSF was currently working with the farmers to establish the extent of the damage. "Maybe the farmers may get some compensation if the losses are perceived to be big. The tobacco will be dried and then re-graded after which a decision may be made either to pay the farmers or not depending on the extent of the damage," said Dr Matibiri. Meanwhile, Minister Made said the TIMB should work with the farmers from the point they register as growers to the point they take their product to the floors. "Farmers need to be registered and must receive marketing and extension information and interact with all stakeholders in the tobacco industry through TIMB. "At the moment we are not matching farmers' activities with the relevant information they need. "TIMB should disseminate information through radios, television and newspapers so that farmers know all the basics of tobacco growing and marketing," Minister Made said. Zimbabwe expects to reap more than 170 million kg of the golden leaf this year. Enditem