Tobacco Floors Ready for 2012 Season

Source from:  The Herald 01/29/2012

PREPARATIONS for this year's tobacco season, which starts on February 16, are almost complete at the four floors licensed to handle tobacco sales this season. The floors include Tobacco Sales Floor, Boka Tobacco Auction Floors, Millennium Tobacco Floors and a new player Premier Tobacco Auction Floors. Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board chairperson Mrs Monica Chinamasa was upbeat about their preparedness for the season. She told journalists last week they were geared to deal with all the challenges that affected the last season, especially congestion. "As you are aware, we started with one auction floor at the beginning of last season which caused a lot of congestion before two more floors came on board," she said. "But this time we are more prepared than before and there should be no congestion as farmers have a wider choice of auction floors. "We hope that growers are going to spread themselves out as much as possible and I hope that we are going to enjoy this season. We don't want to see any discomfort. For now, we believe that the four floors are convenient and the situation will be reviewed if we surpass the 200 million kg mark." A visit to all four floors on Thursday showed they were in an advanced state of readiness. BTAF chief executive Ms Rudo Boka said they had invested US$2,5 million in upgrading their facilities. The money went towards the purchase and installation of new incoming conveyors that have been installed at three points where tobacco will be received. The conveyors are adjustable to accommodate offloading of tobacco from different types of vehicles. In addition, the company has also established a 150-metre conveyor belt to facilitate the quick movement of bales to dispatch in order to free space within the floors. Ms Boka said they were planning to sell about 8 000 to 9 000 bales of tobacco every day. The company also established new ablution facilities, including showers, security systems in the form of CCTVs, new canteen facilities and a waiting room for farmers collecting their cheques. The company has also made provision for two big tents to be pitched up within the vicinity of the floors to accommodate farmers. "We have made significant improvements at our floors to ensure that we have a successful season," she said. On the administrative side, Ms Boka said they were planning to cut down on the time for the processing of farmers' cheques from two hours during the last season to about one hour. In addition, the floor has already concluded agreements with nine banks that would be encashing farmers' cheques. These include BancABC, CBZ, Trust, NMB, FBC, Kingdom, Agribank, Interfin and Metbank. Premier Tobacco Floors managing directors Mr Philemon Mangena said they had invested US$1,2 million in preparing their facilities. These include the provision of banking halls, a canteen and waiting room facilities, provision of a tent, ablution facilities and construction of a covered receiving and dispatch ramp. The company has engaged four banks to serve their clients. These are Kingdom, Metbank and CABS. Mr Mangena said that as new entrants, they were looking at selling at least 3 000 bales a day. "We do not want to put pressure on ourselves; we want to start small and increase our capacity as we go," he said. He added that they had engaged Glen Norah police to provide manpower to beef up their security during the season. Millennium Tobacco chief executive Mr Richard Chabata said that they were continuing with the US$2,5 million investment that they made into their floors including rolling trays that would transport tobacco bales faster that hand trolleys. The company has also established a canteen and made improvements on the receiving and loading bays, which are now covered. Management has also made provision for farmers' accommodation and waiting rooms. Mr Chabata said his company had also made significant progress in recruiting security personnel with knowledge on how the tobacco industry works. "We do not want security personnel that know just the security side of things but who can detect anomalies on the floors," he said. Premier will work with five banks this season - CBZ, Standard Chartered, Metbank, BancABC and Trust. At TSF, which has been in operation for many years, workers were busy sprucing up the facilities, including a warehouse transformed into a waiting room for farmers. TSF managing director Mr James Mutambanesango said they too would be pitching up a tent to accommodate 1 000 farmers within their premises. He said in addition they would engage the Harare City Council on the possibility of securing land adjacent to the floors to accommodate trucks carrying tobacco that had not been booked. "We are also engaging council on the issue of vendors and security personnel to help us control traffic delivering tobacco," he said. Away from the floors, Propak will again be the sole supplier of hessian bags used to package tobacco, as six other companies contracted by TIMB to supply the commodity have not done so. TIMB chief executive Dr Andrew Matibiri allayed fears that Propak might be overwhelmed as in previous years. He said they had been assured by the company that it had enough stocks. The same situation applies to tobacco wrapping paper, which will be distributed by one supplier this season. Enditem