Zimbabwe: Farmers Ready for Tobacco Marketing Season
TOBACCO farmers are ready for the 2010 tobacco-marketing season despite the fact that the season is opening almost two months earlier than usual.
Two of the country’s three main floors — the Tobacco Sales Floor and Zimbabwe Tobacco Auction Centre — will open their doors on February 16, the first day of this year’s marketing season, while contract sales will start the following day.
In separate interviews, representatives of farmer organisations expressed confidence that farmers will be able to deliver come Wednesday next week.
Tobacco Growers’ Trust chairman, Mr Wilfanos Mashingaidze said that the farmers were ready since they were the ones that had requested for the floors to open early.
“Each year most small-scale farmers will have by this time finished preparing their tobacco for the market and most of them had to keep the crop for two to three months until the floors open.
“This year it is the same and it is these farmers who will be the first to bring their tobacco to the floors because this is what they have been calling for,” he said.
Mr Mashingaidze said the early opening of the floors was a blessing to mostly resettled farmers who did not have proper waterproof facilities to store their tobacco.
Zimbabwe Farmers Union director Mr Paul Zakariya said that farmers were ready to sell their tobacco and they expected the same trend as was the case with previous seasons.
He said that most of the farmers that were ready to come onto the market were those that grew the irrigated crop.
“As you might be aware tobacco has two types, the irrigated and dryland crop and what is ready now is the irrigated crop which constitutes about 15 percent of the total tobacco crop grown in the country.
“The irrigated crop is normally grown by those farmers that have potential so we expect the same batch that usually comes through during the first week of every season,” he said.
Elsewhere officials at the floors said that they would be ready to open the floors when sales commence on February 16.
“We were caught off-guard by the announcement but we are running around to put everything in place ahead of the opening date but we will get there,” said one of the officials who asked not to be named.
The official said that their main concern was the engagement of seasonal staff that would receive and handle the tobacco as it gets to the floors.
“We have started advertising for such staff and between now and next week we should have sufficient staff.
“As for sales bookings it is a bit early to give you an indication we will have a clearer picture next week,” said the official.
According to a statement issued by the TIMB, bookings opened on Thursday last week while auction sales will be conducted twice a week on Tuesdays and Fridays.
A total of 77 million kg of tobacco is expected to go under the hammer this year up from 42 million kg last year. A total of 65 202 hectares has been put under tobacco this season of which 11 000ha was under irrigation.
The 77 million kg is however shy of the target of between 80 million-kg and 100 million kg of tobacco initially projected to be grown this year.
About 45 percent of the 77 million kg is set to be sold under auction with the balance being sold under contract.
There were 28 000 farmers that sold their tobacco last year and the TIMB has so far registered 21 000 farmers.
