The ManicaPost
Lovemore Kadzura
Rusape Correspondent
ONE tobacco contract floor — Voedsel International Tobacco — was a hive of activity as it opened its doors to tobacco growers yesterday (Thursday), while the other five licenced selling points in Rusape were expected to resume operations today (Friday).
Six contract floors —Voedsel International Tobacco, Munakiri, AtlasAgri, Bindura, SubSahara and Leafyard were licenced by the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB) to operate selling points in Rusape.
By 10am yesterday, Voedsel had received over 1 000 tobacco bales, and was operating under strict health protocols to avoid the spreading of cholera cases.
It had a resident nurse monitoring and supervising hygiene issues.
Voedsel provincial manager, Mr Morris Chinoda said they had a smooth opening as farmers had delivered huge volumes of tobacco bales.
“We have started well as evidenced by the high number of tobacco bales brought to the auction on the opening day. This has been a tough season, but our farmers remained resilient and still managed to produce.
“Today (yesterday) is mainly for receiving the bales and finalising our set ups, and we expect to start buying and paying farmers in the afternoon.
“We are following strict health protocols, and don’t want to crowd farmers at our selling point. Growers will be promptly served and leave the floors. No vendors will be allowed to operate within our premises,” he said.
Munakiri Floors manager, Ms Funagi Mushonga said they will start buying today (Friday).
“As at 9.30am yesterday (Thursday), we had received 450 bales, which is an indication that our growers are ready for the marketing season. Auctioning will start tomorrow (Friday). So far everything is going according to plan. We are working closely with TIMB and the Ministry of Health and Child Care to make sure that the floors remain safe. We have liased with our bankers so that our farmers are promptly served and return home early,” she said.
Farmers who spoke to the Business Post at the contract floors said they are expecting better prices for their golden leaf.
Tobacco farming is a labour-intensive venture whose rich pickings are entirely hinged on the quality of the leaf.
Nyamajura-based farmer, Mr Earnest Govero who brought 27 bales at Voedsel was expecting better prices for his produce.
“I had 10 hectares of tobacco, and today have brought just 27 bales of good quality tobacco produced under irrigation. My crop is of high quality, and I am expecting good prices for it. I have plenty of bales at the farm and have brought these few to test the waters,” he said.
Mr Gift Majonga, a small-scale farmer from Mayo had seven bales, and was hoping to fetch high prices as well.
“It was a bad season as a result of erratic rains, but we remained resilient and produced something for the market. We did not give up, and we expect fair and competitive prices from buyers. I have seven bales for a start and will bring more when I observe the market trends,” he said.
Most farmers especially those who relied on rain-fed agriculture still have the crop in their fields, while those who irrigated their crops are raring to go.
A number of banks will also open seasonal branches to enable farmers to access their hard earned money without hassles.
Tobacco Farmers Union Trust president, Mr Victor Mariranyika said the majority of farmers, especially small-scale farmers will be able to deliver the golden leaf after two weeks of opening as they are on different stages such as harvesting and curing.
He implored TIMB to strictly monitor activities at the floors to save farmers from being exploited by merchants who will be out to justify paying low prices citing poor quality of the leaf due to the El Nino-induced prolonged dry spell.
Depressed volumes of tobacco are anticipated this season following a significant reduction in, both the number of growers and planted area due to the El Nino phenomenon which resulted in poor rains.
The low rainfall forced those without irrigation muscle to scale down or stop planting the crop, resulting in a minus four percent drop in the planted area compared to the same period last season.
TIMB also announced that growers will be paid 75 percent of their earnings in foreign currency, while the remainder will be in local currency.
Last season farmers were paid 85 percent of their earnings in hard currency and 15 percent in local currency.
