THE 2014 tobacco marketing season gets underway on Wednesday much to the delight of tobacco growers who are ready to reap from hard work put in the farms.
With the number of tobacco farmers having grown from 65 256 last season to 85 076 this season, stakeholders are optimistic the season will be a success.
The Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB) has announced that sales under the auction system start on February 19 while sales under the contract system commence on February 20.
This season three auction floors, Boka Tobacco Floors, Tobacco Sales Floor (TSF) and Premier Tobacco Auction Floors (Premier) have been licensed to conduct sales.
The TIMB chief executive ,Andrew Matibiri, said the board was satisfied by the state of preparedness of stakeholders ahead of the opening of the floors.
“We are ready to go and we have inspected the licensed auction floors and they have met the conditions required for them to start sales,” Matibiri said.
“We are optimistic this season will be a better one.”
Matibiri said the board had licensed 20 Class A buyers.
Last year 16 Class A buyers were licensed.
“We are happy we have more buyers this year and this shows that our tobacco is being appreciated,” he said.
“There will, however, be no Class B buyers this season again.”
Matibiri urged farmers to follow the correct marketing procedures.
For one to be able to sell tobacco one should register as a grower with TIMB and issued with a grower’s number.
A farmer is required to provide TIMB with estimates of their yield and before bringing the crop to the floors one has to book in advance.
With all these procedures in place, most farmers in the past have fallen short of the requirements as they are not yet well versed in tobacco production.
Tobacco Sales Floor (TSF) managing director James Mutambanesango concurred with Matibiri on the need for farmers to follow the stipulated regulations.
In the past farmers have had to spend time camped at auction floors as they would not have followed the procedures.
This has resulted in congestion at the floors with some losing their crop to rains.
Farmers’ premiums have in the past been eroded as they spend days at the auction floors before their crop has been sold.
Farmers have also been targeted by thieves and conmen who take advantage and swindle them of their hard earned cash.
TSF is one of the stakeholders that have been holding workshops to educate farmers on the production and marketing of the crop.
“We are still getting farmers that come to the floors without the necessary requirements and there is no way we can sell their crop until they have sorted out their papers,” said Mutambanesango.
“We are also getting farmers who have their tobacco rejected by the buyers or that fetch low prices because of poor presentation.”
Mutambanesango said farmers, especially those new to the sector, not only required training on marketing but also on curing and bailing.
“Farmers often complain over the prices that are offered by buyers but sometimes the reasons for poor prices have to be addressed by the farmers,” he said.
Mutambanesango said TSF was in the process of conducting test runs to ensure the selling process was flawless.
“We are testing the system from when we receive the crop right up to the payment stage to ensure that when the marketing season starts there will not be any hiccups,” he said.
Premier, managing director Philemon Mangena said the company was finishing off renovations at the floors as they were anticipating an increase in sales this season.
“We are almost done putting final touches, upgrading our systems to ensure we have a smooth marketing season,” said Mangena.
“We have increased the number of floors to two and this can accommodate up to 7 000 bales at the same time.
“This year we anticipate an increase in the number of farmers who trade at our floors.”
The tobacco production sub-sector, a former preserve of white farmers, has grown over the years with production levels rising from an all-time low of 48,8 million kilogrammes (kg) in 2008 to 60 million kg in 2009.
In 2010, the country produced 123 million and 132,5 million kg in 2011and last year 144,5 million kg valued at US$527,6 million.
At least 144 million kg were sold in 2012 and last year 159kg were sold.
The adoption of the multiple currencies has also resulted in more farmers turning to tobacco production.
Tobacco is one of Zimbabwe’s major agricultural exports, accounting for 10,7 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).