Zimbabwe: There's Enough Tobacco Wrapping Paper, Farmers Told

Source from:  The Herald 02/27/2012

The tobacco industry has assured farmers that there is enough wrapping material to cater for the 2011/12 selling season. Major supplier of the wrapping hessian bags, Propak Pvt Ltd, general manager Mr Alex Kazamula yesterday said the industry had procured enough stocks for the season. "This year, we have the capacity to clothe over 200 million kg of tobacco. The business is sitting on over one million wraps ready for distribution into the market and this should be enough to cover the 2012 tobacco crop," he said. Mr Kazamula advised farmers not to panic as the industry was looking at a crop forecast of 150 million kg. He said the brand new wrap was selling at US$4,50 and the second hand one for US$3,50. This year, Propak has partnered Mashco to have the hardware chain sell the wrappings in major tobacco growing areas. These include Marondera, Macheke, Rusape, Bindura, Mvurwi, Centenary, Karoi, and Chinhoyi. In Headlands, Propak has partnered Headlands Supermarket and in all these areas, the wraps are available. "We are also working closely with the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board to curb corruption in the selling of the commodity," he said. Mr Kazamula said Propak was only allowing transporters registered with TIMB to buy the wraps. "There is a basic requirement that the transporter has to meet to be able to buy the wraps. The transporter must submit a growers' list to Propak on every purchase to ensure that growers get their refunds." Propak advised farmers to desist from buying wraps from unaccredited suppliers as this could compromise the quality of their tobacco and result in the crop being rejected at the auction floors. This will also cause loss of refunds to the grower. Tobacco growers used to face shortages of the hessian bags during the past seasons. This was attributed to the early opening of the tobacco selling season while other stakeholders blamed the situation to lack of funds to import enough material. Unscrupulous traders used to take advantage of the situation by hoarding the commodity for resale to farmers at exorbitant prices eroding the farmers' profits. The 2012 tobacco selling season opened on February 16 with many farmers expressing satisfaction at the service delivery of buyers and auction floor operators. Enditem