Zimbabwe: Tobacco Farmers Ready for 2013 Auction

Source from:  The Herald  02/26/2013

TOBACCO growers are ready for the 2013 tobacco selling season which opens on Wednesday next week. Most farmers who had an early irrigated crop are concentrating on curing, grading and baling while those who had a late crop are yet to start reaping.
 
Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers' Union president Mr Wonder Chabikwa confirmed that farmers were busy preparing for the opening of the selling season.
 
He said few farmers were facing challenges curing the crop.
 
"ZCFU had to send expert teams to different farming areas to assist farmers who had indicated that they were having problems processing their crop," said Mr Chabikwa.
 
"I am confident local farmers have vast knowledge on curing and they will present a quality crop on the market."
 
Last week stakeholders in the tobacco industry said they want merchants to offer prices that tally with the international markets for this year's marketing season.
 
This, they said, would allow farmers to achieve parity after marketing. They want farmers to be paid US$5 and above for a kilogramme of tobacco.
 
Last season auction floors offered US$4,99 per kilogramme as their highest price. Their counterparts on the contract side offered as high as US$5,90 per kilogramme.
 
Mr Chabikwa said farmers expected better prices this year compared to the previous season.
 
Zimbabwe Farmers' Union second vice president Mr Berean Mukwende said most tobacco growers could not wait to sell their crop to raise funds to procure top dressing fertilisers for their summer crops.
 
"Farmers do not have money and therefore are preparing to sell their crop early so they can buy inputs," he said.
 
Some farmers believe that they get good prices during the early days of the selling season.
 
Mr Mukwende was concerned that last season prices in Brazil rose to US$8 per kilogramme yet the crop was inferior to the Zimbabwean tobacco in terms of quality.
 
Mr Mukwende said limited resources were still affecting some tobacco growers especially when preparing their crop for the market.
 
The unavailability of medium to long-term funding, Mr Mukwende said, had worsened the situation.
 
He said contractors were only offering inputs and capital for labour and therefore farmers will not be able to renovate their barns or construct sheds to store their crop.
 
A total of 170 million kilogrammes are expected to be sold this season as many farmers turn to tobacco production due to the favourable prices being offered. Enditem