Zambia: Tobacco Farmers to Form Union

Source from:  Zambia Post (zm)  09/10/2014

The low demand and poor prices for tobacco experienced during this year's marketing season has forced the creation of a Tobacco Farmers' Union.

The union which would be called Western Tobacco Growers' Union was registered on August 15, 2014 under the Registrar of Societies.

So far, the new union has managed to mobilise over 2,000 members and is in the process of affiliating to the Zambia National Farmers' Union (ZNFU).

According to the ZNFU, the Western Tobacco Growers' Union was meant to protect the interests of tobacco farmers.

This year, Zambia projected to harvest 45 million kilogrammes of burley, virginia and fire tobacco valued at more than K750 million compared to last year's 41.4 million kilogrammes valued at about K711.3 million.

But producers of one of Zambia's cash crops felt betrayed when the country's auction floors opened with very few offers of as low as 30 cents per kilogramme of the lowest grade of the golden leaf.

The farmers protested against the low prices, saying the lowest grade of the tobacco should have fetched 90 cents per kilogramme.

The desperate situation forced the Tobacco Board of Zambia to write to merchants who underpaid farmers to top up on their payments relative to the prevailing kwacha/dollar exchange rate at the time farmers sold their produce.

During a newsmakers forum organised by the Press Freedom Committee of The Post under the theme 'Who benefits from tobacco market?' at Eastern Comfort Lodge in July, TBZ chief executive officer, Samson Muyembe, said the association had noted that there were merchants who bought tobacco at a constant rate, regardless of the exchange rate.

"It's unfortunate that some merchants even at the time when they were buying their tobacco were not following the ruling kwacha/dollar rate of that particular day. As TBZ, we have said we shall follow it. Those farmers who sold their tobacco at the time when the dollar was at K6.5 or K6.7 but they paid a farmer at the rate of K6 will definitely make a top up to the farmer," said Muyembe.

Meanwhile, Tobacco Board of Zambia has urged tobacco farmers to take advantage of the available market in Lusaka and ensure their remaining crop is sold.

The new farming season has already started with tobacco nurseries already in place but farmers still have produce left to be sold on the market in the current marketing season scheduled to formally end by September 30.

But Muyembe said local buyers engaged to help purchase the cash crop had continued to do so in Lusaka ahead of the close of the marketing season.

He appealed to farmers to ensure their produce is sold off in view of the new farming season already underway.

"We negotiated with local buyers like Tombwe, Alliance One and Zambia Leaf to move in and buy the independent crop, which they have done and what is remaining now is just a small fraction of what the independent growers had. But we are still appealing to farmers still holding on to their tobacco to bring it to Lusaka because the marketing season ends on September 30," Muyembe said in an interview in Lusaka.

He said it was important that tobacco farmers heeded the call to ensure their crop was sold and must begin to prepare for the new farming season.

"We are not rigid with the [deadline] buying period and we can always extend it, but we would love the farmers to bring their tobacco now so that they start preparing their nurseries for the coming season because it has already started and [some] farmers have already started putting up their nurseries. So, the earlier farmers sell their crop, the earlier they will start the next season," Muyembe said.

He, however, said there was still ample time for farmers to prepare for the farming season, which was already underway.

"Some of the farmers have already started [cultivating] but for our small-scale farmers who depend on [rains], there is still time for them to start sowing up their tobacco seed," said Muyembe, adding that the amount of tobacco left countrywide was estimated to be around 1,000 metric tonnes. Enditem