eBusiness Weekly
Elita Chikwati
HARARE – Decentralisation of tobacco auction floors is now underway with the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board having carried the first round inspection of possible sites. The decentralisation is expected to be functional during the 2018 marketing season as authorities seek to de-congest the existing auction floors.
Decentralisation is meant to reduce transport costs for farmer when ferrying tobacco to the market and also reducing congestion at the floors in Harare. TIMB corporate communications manager Mr Isheunesu Moyo said several tobacco companies and all tobacco auction floors and various contractors had expressed interest in investing and setting up buying facilities outside Harare. He said the decentralised floors have an advantage as they cater for fewer farmers thus allowing faster service compared to the Harare floors.
“The programme will help to de-congest the existing facilities while farmers will incur fewer costs when delivering their produce. The process of decentralising underway. We have done preliminary inspection of possible sites in Mvurwi, Karoi and Rusape to see if they can meet our requirements. We have indicated areas of improvement and early January we will carry out second round inspections,” he said.
This year, Zimbabwe produced about 180 million kg of tobacco of which 20 percent was sold through the auction system. Most farmers with an early irrigated crop have started reaping in most parts of the country. The decentralisation of tobacco floors has benefited some contracted farmers who no longer worry about transport and accommodation costs when selling their crop.
TIMB licensed Karoi and Mvurwi Mashonaland Tobacco Company floors in 2016 for farmers to sell their crop nearer to their farms. Tobacco production has been on the increase for the past years due to favourable prices and orderly marketing systems.
According to TIMB statistics, 112 546 farmers have registered for tobacco for the 2017/18 season. This is an increase of 40 percent from the 80 327 who had registered during the same period last year.
