The 2016 tobacco marketing season is over.
The curtain came down on the selling of the golden leaf at a time preparations for the 2016/2017 tobacco cropping season have gathered momentum.
The tobacco cycle starts in June when farmers prepare their seedbeds, in September planting begins mainly for farmers who irrigate their crop.
Those who depend on rainfall continue to manage seedbeds and nurseries waiting for the onset of rains.
It takes an average 90 days before the crop matures.
Harvesting starts in December and marketing begins in February.
This season, marketing was delayed as rains were received late and most farmers were behind schedule.
Selling of the golden leaf commenced in March.
Stakeholders have described the 2016 season as having started on a low note, with buyers offering ‘poor’ prices, with trends changing as the season progressed.
Over the past two seasons, it has become common to see farmers’ up-in-arms with buyers, protesting prices offered for the golden leaf.
Farmers have argued prices being offered were not viable, while buyers insisted the prices were in tandem with the quality of the crop delivered.
“When the season started, buyers were offering prices as little as 30 US cents per kilogramme which was not viable,” Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers Union president Wonder Chabikwa told The Patriot.
“After much lobbying and protests by farmers, we saw a change in the prices offered at the floors.
“However, the average price for auction sales was lower than that of contract sales.”
This year, changes have been made to the payment system with the hope of improving operations of the farmers.
The Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB) highlighted the new Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) regulations that require farmers to be paid through their banks in order to encourage savings and foster financial inclusion.
This entails farmers to have bank accounts.
In the past, it was mandatory for contract farmers only to have bank accounts.
Chabikwa said growers welcomed the changes.
“The reasoning behind the change in the payment system is sound.
It helps farmers manage their earnings as they will desist from impulse buying while still at the floors,” he said.
“Farmers can now first catch their breath after sales and then plan on how to use the money.
“The implementation of the system was, however, not ‘planned’ and this has resulted in confusion among some growers.
“Some growers were not familiar with the changes and had to open accounts upon reaching the floors.”
The new payment system helped farmers who in the past had to always be on the lookout for some unruly elements who plot all year on how to cash in on unsuspecting farmers.
“The new system was noble, but farmers had to endure long queues in banks just like everyone else to access cash,” said Chabikwa.
Chabikwa raised concerns over issues of ‘middle-men’ duping farmers.
“We heard reports of people buying tobacco from farmers, offering to pay them more or even less, offering them cash,” he said.
“Authorities should look into that because our farmers are being ripped off.”
Allegations of buyers conniving to deliberately offer the farmers low prices and then re-sale the crop at much higher prices abound.
Tobacco farmers are now faced with the same predicament as cotton producers who were not making any profits from their crop, but with the ginners reaping huge returns from their efforts.
Meanwhile, factors like changing weather patterns and the issue of prices have negatively affected the once promising and growing sector.
Production levels rose from a low of 48,8 million kg in 2008 to 123,5 million kg in 2011.
Backed by the increase in growers, production increased in 2012 to 132,5 million kg and 144 million kg in 2013.
In 2014, some 216 million kg valued at US$685 million was produced, but figures dropped to 198 million kg last year, earning the country US$586 million.
The Southern African region was negatively impacted by the El Nino phenomenon that hit the region and this affected production.
The El Nino also affected tobacco producers in South America and the US, a scenario which was expected to increase demand and high prices for the Zimbabwean tobacco.
Brazil which usually produces over 400 million kg of tobacco per annum was expected to witness a sharp deficit of about 100 million kg owing to floods which hit that country’s tobacco growing areas.
The US lost about 30 percent of its produce to floods.