Zimbabwe: 'Security Forces Cause Confusion at Auction Floor'

Source from:  Zimbabwe 06/28/2011

A parliamentary portfolio committee on agriculture, lands, water and resettlement has blamed Zimbabwe's security forces for exacerbating confusion and congestion at the country's largest tobacco auction floor. This comes amid a push by legislators for more auction floors, a decision facing resistance from industry players. A report on the operations of the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB) and constraints faced by tobacco growers has revealed numerous challenges at Tobacco Sales Floor (TSF), the largest auction floor by volumes, making a lasting solution to perennial problems affecting the cash-spinning business appear distant. "There were abnormally longer and haphazard queues at the Tobacco Sales Floors, a situation made worse by several lorries and trucks bearing police and military plates which were bypassing the queues," reads the first report of the committee. The committee, however, proposed that decentralising the auction floors to Zimbabwe's 15 major tobacco growing districts and educating tobacco growers on the booking system, among other interventions, could minimise the problems. However, some industry players contend that taking the floors to the farmers could reduce tobacco prices, which could result in tobacco price wars. The TIMB, after completing a feasibility study on decentralisation last November, this marketing season shelved its plans to embark on the project. It instead opted for the decentralisation of booking offices to Mvurwi, Chinhoyi, Marondera and Rusape. Last month's minutes of the TIMB Board production and marketing committee meeting with auction floors and buyers reveal that tobacco merchants are not ready for more auction floors. The buyers want tobacco deliveries to hit the 200 million kilogramme mark before new players can come on board. Zimbabwe currently has three auction floors - TSF, Boka Tobacco Auction Floors and Millennium Tobacco Auction Floors - with tobacco deliveries this year expected to hit 177 million kgs. Reports also show that to date the TIMB has received at least 10 applications from would-be auction floor operators. Apart from competition for the few experienced buyers, the merchants warned that increasing the number of auction floors -which would subsequently reduce the tobacco selling and marketing period - would also put jobs on the line for several casual workers in the sector. Enditem